Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies

Driver accused of sparking rage

According to the student accused of assaulting his bus driver, the now battered driver cursed at the boy prompting the 13-year-old's rage.

ST. PETERSBURG - The 13-year-old arrested for attacking a school bus driver told his mother he threw a punch after the man cursed at him.

"He said he just lost it," Pamela Williams said Thursday.

But Williams, 40, said that does not excuse her son's actions. She visited him Wednesday night at the county Juvenile Assessment Center.

"He was crying the whole time," she said. "He said this is not where I want to be.

"I know he's sorry. He just made a big misake. It's serious and he's going to have to deal with the consequences. But trust me, I'm going to stand by him the whole way."

The boy punched Stanley Cardonick, 75, as the bus emptied Tuesday morning at Meadowlawn Middle School in St. Petersburg.

The beating made a black and blue mess of Cardonick's face. He has a broken nose and stiches under his left eye and lip.

Cardonick said the boy led others in heckling him earlier that morning when the bus got stuck behind two parked cars and again after he got a speeding ticket.

He denied cursing at the boy, who was arrested on a felony charge of aggravated battery. "Even if I did - and I didn't - what gives him the right to hit me? I never raised my hand to him."

Pinellas schools spokesman Sterling Ivey said the district will investigate the chain of events and what may have been said on the bus. The bus was equipped with video equipment but for unknown ressons, it was not working.

"Regardless it's not going to excuse a 13-year-old from punching a bus driver in the head," Ivey said. The boy, he added, will be recommended for expulsion.

The St. Petersburg Times is not identifying him because of his age.