Bulloch County Sheriff’s Office Capt. Todd Hutchens said a “violent attack on a 7-year-old” while riding in a Bulloch County school bus April 18 led to an investigation that resulted in charging seven juveniles with battery and a bus driver with cruelty to children.
“It was a violent attack from the 5-year-old all the way up to the 14-year-old,” Hutchens said at a Tuesday press conference inside the Sheriff’s Office. “I cannot tell you exactly which child committed a particular part of it, but one child came over the seat and basically used his feet to stomp on this 7-year-old. You just can't ignore this kind of stuff.”
According to the Sheriff’s Office, School Resource Officer Deputy Julian Carter Brown, who is assigned to William James Middle School, received a report on April 23 of an attack on a child during the morning bus route of April 18.
Upon receiving this report, the Sheriff’s Office SRO division opened a criminal investigation into the incident.
“During this investigation it was determined that seven students, ages 5-14, initiated a physical attack on 7-year-old student during (the April 18) morning bus route to Mattie Lively Elementary,” the BCSO reported in an email release.
After reviewing the video footage from the bus camera, Hutchens said the seven students were identified. Hutchens said Sgt. Bubba Revell, who is assigned to the SRO Division, “was able to discuss this situation with the prosecuting district attorney's office and got direction from them that all of the juveniles would be processed in on battery charges.”
Hutchens said he wasn’t sure how many of the children were taken into custody at their school or another location, but all “were brought (to the Bulloch County Jail) by Sheriff's Office vehicles … with the parents being notified (of their arrests).”
Hutchens said there is a separate juvenile holding cell where the intake of the seven children took place.
“Juveniles are kept separate from adults,” he said. “And when the juveniles are being processed in this common area, no adults are there except for law enforcement.”
Also, the investigation determined bus driver, Joey Edwin Jackson, 70, would be charged with cruelty to children 2nd degree and failure to report child abuse.
Bulloch County Schools Superintendent Charles Wilson said at Tuesday’s press conference that the school district central office was notified of the Friday, April 18 incident on Monday, April 21.
“The ball started rolling to fill in the gaps,” he said. “But once we did have an understanding of what had occurred and what had not been reported to the appropriate channels, then we started taking action to notify the appropriate parties.”
Hutchens said it became clear that the school bus driver, Jackson, did not follow his legal responsibility of reporting the fight.
“The bus driver did not pull over,” Hutchens said. “The bus driver did not call the bus garage to say, ‘Hey, I've got an incident on the bus. Please send help.’ He continued to drive to the elementary school he was going to.”
The school district said Jackson, who was first employed in October 2023, did not report the incident as he is required to do.
“There are clear expectations that are reviewed annually and gone over with bus drivers as to what to do when something like this occurs,” Wilson said.
In its Wednesday release, the Sheriff’s Office reported Jackson was no longer a Bulloch Schools employee.
Hutchens said the child who was attacked did not suffer “any major injuries, but he did sustain some bruising. The child was checked out by the nursing staff, according to the schools, and did not require any hospitalization or anything like that. And when you look at the cruelty to children (statute), it also involves not only physical injury, but mental injury, as well.”
Haley Greene, director of Public Relations for the school district, said Tuesday the 7-year-old has returned to school without incident.
Charges
Hutchens said the case would be forwarded to the Department of Juvenile Justice for further court proceedings and how the battery charges on the seven, including the 5-year-old, would proceed through the juvenile system.
“Now, 5-year-olds know right from wrong and now what happens in the judicial system will be left up to them,” he said. “But they hold responsibility just as an adult, just as a 14-year-old. They know right from wrong. They know better than to be jumping on another child and striking that child with a hand or a fist or a book or those type of things.”
Wilson said the school district would not tolerate violent behavior of any kind.
“One thing we know is we owe it to everyone in this community that when your child comes to school, your child's going to be in a safe environment where they can be treated well,” he said. “You know, there's a saying, ‘Culture's defined by the worst behavior you tolerate.’ And it's not going to be tolerated in Bulloch County schools. We're very clear about that.”
The incident remains under active investigation. The Sheriff’s Office requests that anyone with information about the incident to contact Sgt. Bubba Revell at (912) 486-5926.
