Kids in bus aide bullying get threats

GREECE, N.Y. (WIVB) - The student bullying of a suburban Rochester bus aide drove her to tears and the video has drawn nationwide outrage. School officials and police responded Thursday in the town of Greece.

Police are investigating the behavior of the four middle school students. But when you get right down to it, the students are 13-years-old, they're juveniles, and the insults they taunted the bus aide with do not seem to constitute any criminal activity. However, school officials believe it did violate the district's code of conduct.

Karen Klein, the 68-year-old grandmother of eight who withstood the relentless taunts, described the onslaught as, "Like living outside my body. It's not like this is me that this is happening to."

She is overwhelmed by the outpouring of support coming in from all corners of the country. Her ordeal, recorded by a student on a cell phone, of threats and insults was spread around the world over the internet. Police and school officials are investigating.

Watch the full video below:

"I've gotten e-mails from the United Kingdom, from all over the United States, saying, 'Prosecute them! Prosecute them!' I feel it. You know? I feel it. But we have to follow the law. We can't tailor the law to meet this case because of public outrage," said Greece Police Capt. Steve Chatterton.

The video has shocked the world and rocked the Greece Central School District.

Greece District Asst. Superintendent Deborah Heft said, "It really is an outrage what has happened. We are just going to work very hard that this will never happen again. If you have one incident of bullying, it's one too many."

>> You can watch the full press conference held by Greece officials here

Police say because of the students ages, the law limits the punishment they can receive, so it may be up to school officials to make them pay the price for their outrageous behavior. The law does allow for the minors to be charged with felonies and misdemeanors, but Klein isn't pursuing charges against the four students.

"They're going through a lot," she said. "In fact, I almost think what they went through is worse than what I went through."

The four students and their families have been receiving threats. And a mother, whose son wasn't even on the bus, says her son is also receiving threats.

Police have had to step up patrols around all of their homes as a result.

An online campaign to send Karen Klein on a vacation originally had a goal of $5,000 and has managed to raise over $350,000.