Two Lawrence youths were detained following an altercation on a school bus Tuesday afternoon that stemmed from a racist remark made by at least one of the students, police and a mother of one of the youths said.
Police about 3:20 p.m. were called to the 2300 block of Princeton Place, where employees of Laidlaw Transit Inc. reported problems on a school bus.
Police said a 16-year-old youth got off the bus and admitted to striking another youth on the head. He was placed in handcuffs, police said.
Versions of what happened after that varied greatly between police and the mother of a 15-year-old youth who also was detained.
The mother told the Journal-World that police beat her son because he is black.
But police said an officer was trying to handcuff the 15-year-old and he pushed the officer into a mailbox. The officer then tackled the youth, and the youth struck his head on the pavement, police said.
Police said the youth continued to resist arrest and they sprayed him with pepper spray.
The 15-year-old was taken by ambulance to Lawrence Memorial Hospital, where he received five stitches, police said. He was then taken to the Douglas County Youth Services detention facility, where both he and the 16-year-old remained Tuesday night, police said.
Tom Bracciano, transportation and safety supervisor for the Lawrence school district, said he would be meeting with administrators at both West Junior High and Free State High School about the incident.
Students from both schools ride the bus in which Tuesday's incident took place.
An attendant would be on the bus to make sure there were no problems today, Bracciano said.
A camera inside the bus was either not working, or had no film, and did not record Tuesdays events in the vehicle, Bracciano and police said.
-- Michael Dekker's phone message number is 832-7187. His e-mail address is mdekker@ljworld.com.
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