BELLEVILLE, Ill., Sept. 22 (UPI) -- Belleville, Ill., school officials say their harsh punishment of two students recorded beating a third student on a school bus is a message to others.
School Board President Curt Highsmith said Monday the two high school students were expelled for the rest of this year and all of next year after video surveillance cameras on a school bus caught them repeatedly punching another teen in the head, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
The violent video was shown widely on television and on the Internet. Highsmith said what it revealed has "never been tolerated and never will be tolerated" in the Belleville Township High School District.
The newspaper said the victim was treated by a school nurse and later was released to his mother.
Police reportedly had said at first the attacks may have been racially motivated because the assailants were black and the victim was white, but have since backtracked and now claim it appeared to simply be a case of bullying.
The Post-Dispatch said both attackers, a 14-year-old and a 17-year-old, have been charged with felony aggravated battery. It said the younger boy pleaded not guilty Monday at a detention hearing in St. Clair County, Ill., Court.
