Belleville Police called the beatings brutal.
The center of the photo appears to have been purposely blurred in an attempt to protect the identity of the thugs who carried out the beatings.
Belleville is located in southwestern Illinois.
Police Captain Don Sax said the boy boarded his school bus Monday morning, began looking for a seat and was told by several students he could not sit next to them.
The driver instructed all the students to sit, so the boy moved a classmate's backpack and took a seat.
"Pretty soon the kid he sat next to is pushing him, trying to push him out of the seat and the next thing you know he starts punching him and choking him and punching him some more," says Sax. "It's ridiculous."
The victim took at least 15 blows in about 15 seconds. The surveillance video shows the kids on board kept laughing; one even used his cell phone to take a photo of the victim's bloodied face.
"There was a lot of egging on," says Sax.
Four minutes after the first attack, came a second one at the hands of another classmate. This time the victim was punched and slapped at least eight more times, until one boy broke them apart.
Sax says the two suspects are 14 and 15. They are African American. The victim is white.
"There's a strong suspicion that it was race related," says Sax.
There is a graphic video of the assault at the link below.
The bus driver apparently did nothing to stop the beating.
More of the story here.
A picture of my cave
..
..
