5 Arrested After Greco Bus Fight

Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Deputy Troy Fallin got more than he bargained for Thursday when he stopped to help a Greco Middle School bus driver who was dealing with the aftermath of a student fight.

Fallin ended up with a broken finger for his troubles and five students were arrested.

According to a sheriff’s office media release, the incident began around 4:30 p.m. yesterday, Jan. 17, when Fallin spotted a bus pulled over at Sewaha Road and 56th Street. The driver had pulled over after a fight erupted between students about whether to keep a window open or close it.

Fallin, 42, got on the bus to sort out the problem and was joined by two Temple Terrace Police officers, the release said. When the three law enforcement officers got on the bus, a 15-year-old male student got up and said he was going to leave. The officers ordered the student to stay, but the student shoved Fallin, the release said. This caused him to fall backward onto the dashboard and windshield.

At this point, the two Temple Terrace officers attempted to control the student, but he “continued to fight – by punching, swinging, and kicking,” the release said.

Other students on the bus tried to pull the teen to the back of the bus to prevent officers from gaining control of him, the release said.

As this was happening, other students on the bus “taunted the officers with profanity.”

The 15-year-old, Johndarios Wright, was arrested and taken to the Juvenile Assessment Center. Temple Terrace Police arrested four other students on battery charges related to the original fight that caused the bus driver to pull over, the release said. The names of the other four students have not been released.

Wright faces aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer, two counts of battery on a law enforcement officer, three counts resisting arrest with violence and disrupting a school function charges.

Fallin was treated at a local hospital for his injury.