Lisa Marchesoni
Posted: Thursday, September 4, 2008 3:54 pm

A 16-year-old boy accused of assaulting a bus driver remains in Juvenile Detention after his attorney appealed for another judge to release him Wednesday.

The boy was charged with assaulting bus driver Danny Lee Campbell, 43, during a fight Aug. 22 on Blaze Drive near Blackman High School.

He and his 16-year-old cousin were charged with simple assault of Campbell, who suffered a broken leg in the fight.

Juvenile Court Judge Donna Scott Davenport ordered the boys held until a Sept. 17 hearing. The mother, who is the aunt to the second boy, asked for attorneys to represent them.

Attorney Mark Downton, who represents one boy, appealed Davenport’s decision for the boy to remain in custody. In a request to Circuit Court Judge Royce Taylor, Downton said Davenport ordered him held without a chance for him to be represented by an attorney and did not allow him to speak.

Also, Downton stated the judge didn’t hear about less restrictive alternatives to detention. In his motion, Downton reported statements from other witnesses and students accused Campbell of attacking the boy.

In an order, Taylor ruled Downton failed to show the confinement was illegal and dismissed his motion.

During the original detention hearing, Campbell testified the cousins, who were supposed to ride another bus, got on his bus. When the bus pulled away from Blackman High School, the taller boy pulled his belt off. Campbell said he ordered the boy to put his belt on and come to the front of the bus. He stopped the bus on Blaze Drive near the school.

The boy cussed him, the driver said. He was supposed to have a help line on his bus but it was not installed yet. Both boys approached him.

“They grabbed my leg and jerked me off the bus,” Campbell testified, adding the taller boy kicked him in the head and face. He suffered a broken leg and injuries to his face. He was treated at Middle Tennessee Medical Center.

The mother of one of the boys, who is the aunt of the second boy, told the bus driver to get off her son, he said.

But after the hearing, the mother, who didn’t want her name to be used, said she went to Blackman High School to pick up her son and cousin after another student threatened to stab one of them. They decided to ride the bus as she followed.