Jun 19, 2009 11:30 pm US/Eastern
High School Student Sucker-Punched On NYC Bus
Asked Why He Attacked Unsuspecting Anthony Paramithis, Alleged Attacker Reportedly Said: 'Cause I Felt Like It'
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
A high school freshman is recovering from a broken jaw he received at the hands of an attacker aboard a city bus. The victim's parents are aggravated, saying the bus driver didn't do enough to help.
Anthony Paramithis, whose jaw is now wired closed, knows what pain is like.
"My jaw's obviously broken, and it's wired shut, so I can't eat any solid food at all," he said.
For the next several weeks, his only meals will come through a straw. The freshman at Staten Island Technical High School was heading home last week on an S-78 bus he boarded on Hylan Avenue.
The teen said no sooner had he boarded the bus than he was sucker-punched in the face.
"A kid hit me from behind while I wasn't looking and knocked me out. Witnesses said while I was on the ground, he kept hitting me," Paramithis said.
The boy said the one who hit him was with others.
"Right before I got hit, another person said 'Watch, he's gonna do it,'" Paramithis said.
With Anthony on the floor of the bus, a woman passenger helped him.
"After I came to, a woman asked him, 'Why did you do that? He said, 'Cause I felt like it,'" Paramithis said.
Anthony's father is distressed that the bus driver did not immediately stop, and offered no aid to the injured passenger.
"He did nothing to help my son. He actually drove away. He said, I can't help you. I can't do anything about it," Pete Paramithis said.
The driver let Anthony and the Good Samaritan off the bus at the next stop, and the attacker got off at the one after that.
A spokesman for NYC Transit said, "Bus drivers are not to get involved in altercations. They are required to notify a supervisor at the command center, which the bus driver did. He followed policy."
As for the driver allowing the attacker to get off the bus, the spokesman said it depends on the situation. Confining an attacker on the bus could put the driver and others at risk.
The family said a 14-year-old suspect was picked up by police, and he confessed to the attack.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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