School bus driver beaten into coma dies

BRONX (WABC) -- A 65-year-old school bus driver beaten into a coma has died, his family confirms.

Juan Del Valle had been at St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx since a minor traffic accident turned into a horrific beating.

Police say Del Valle was driving a school bus when he clipped a car's side mirror. Police say the car's owner, ex-con Joey Scott, beat the 65-year-old grandfather into a coma.

Surveillance video caught the vicious attack two weeks ago. Del Valle was inching his school bus down a narrow street in the Tremont section of the Bronx when he hit the mirror.

Moments later, Scott confronted DelValle and punched him twice in the face.

Del Valle collapsed, and his head hits the pavement. He never came out of the coma. His family made the decision to remove him from life support this week.

Del Valle worked for 8 years transporting the children of New York City safely to and from school.

"He was a wonderful, gentle man who did his job professionally and with great dedication and compassion," Atlantic Express Transportation Group said in a statement on Saturday. "The career of a school bus driver is a demanding one with great responsibility, but it should never be one where hard-working, honorable people are subjected to vicious and senseless violence. We must all stand together to ensure that violence against school bus drivers will not be tolerated and demand the maximum sentence against the perpetrator of this heartless crime which was witnessed by special education students."

Police had arrested Scott on assault charges after the incident. It is expected that charges will be upgraded.

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