A Gullfport, Fla., bus driver who called for help after a 13-year-old boy was viciously attacked, but did not physically intervene in the fight, won't face charges.
"You gotta get somebody here quick, quick, quick, quick," John Moody said on a video recording of the fight obtained by CNN. "They're about to beat this boy to death over here."
Moody retired six days after the July 9 fight in Pinellas County. He said he did nothing wrong, and points out that, under school district policy, he's not required to break up a fight unless he feels it's safe to do so.
The beating left the boy with a broken arm and two black eyes. The three 15-year-olds suspected in the attack have been arrested and charged with aggravated assault.
After news of the fight made headlines, Gullfport Police Chief Robert Vincent criticized Moody's response.
"There was clearly an opportunity for him to intervene and or check on the welfare of the children or the child in this case and he didn't make any effort to do so," Chief Robert Vincent of Gulfport Police Department told WFLA.
Moody said he was scared to intervene.
"The three boys just jumped on him and start pounding on him and I did all I can," Moody said. "It was like I was in shock. I was petrified."
Moody's lawyer said his client acted appropriately.
"If he had touched these children, he would have put more people in danger," Frank McDermott said. "He would have had to rip them off of this young man throwing these violent children into other children."
ABC Action News reports what, authorities said, lead to the fight:
Investigators determined that before the fight on the bus, the victim had encountered the one of the older boys inside a school restroom at Lealman Intermediate School.
The suspect tried to sell the victim drugs. The 13-year-old reported the suspect to school officials, but at the end of the day, the victim and the suspect ended up riding home on the same school bus.
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