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Bus Driver 'Bullying' Charges Dropped

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Sep 3, 2006 1:15 pm US/Eastern

Bus Driver 'Bullying' Charges Dropped

STATEN ISLAND (CBS/AP) ―

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Charges have been dismissed against a school bus driver accused of encouraging older students to bully younger ones to with hopes of keeping order.

The charges were dropped against Michael Cianci, of Parlin, N.J., in Stapleton Criminal Court on Staten Island Friday after Assistant District Attorney Quentin Smith read a 10-page dismissal recommendation to Judge Alan Meyer.

Cianci was arrested Jan. 31 and accused of creating a "Lord of the Flies" atmosphere on his bus. Authorities said he encouraged students in his so-called Death Cheese Club -- supposedly named for the yellow school bus to use headlocks on other students and push them around.

But Smith said that the district attorney's investigation found that "Cianci was not the originator of the game based on the 'Death Cheese Laws." The prosecutor said that Cianci admonished unruly students but "never physically touched any student."

"Although the district attorney's investigation has revealed
that (Cianci) may have at times exercised poor judgment in failing to maintain an orderly environment for the children riding his bus... not every instance of poor judgment gives rise to criminal liability warranting a criminal prosecution," Smith said.

Cianci's lawyer, Mario Gallucci, told the Staten Island Advance that his client planned to sue the families of the two Intermediate School 34 students who accused him for defamation, slander, libel and malicious prosecution.