Police: School bus attack not racial

BELLEVILLE, Ill., Sept. 16 (UPI) -- Police in a St. Louis suburb say a school bus attack on a white student by two blacks was simple bullying and not a racial assault.

The assault Monday in Belleville, Ill., quickly became a national story, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. Conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh blamed the assault on President Barack Obama.

"In Obama's America, the white kids get beat up with the black kids cheering," he said.

Police Capt. Don Sax said Tuesday he was "premature" when he suggested Monday the attack was a racial one.

"The incident appears now to be more about a couple of bullies on a bus dictating where people sit," he said.

The videotape shows the white student, 17, getting on the bus, trying to find a seat and then sitting next to one of the boys who attacked him. While other students laughed and cheered at the fight, no racial slurs can be heard.

One African-American student, Steven Raines, tried to protect the white student.

The two alleged attackers were arrested and have been suspended from school for 10 days. Three other students who allegedly laughed at the fight have also been suspended.