A Gulfport, Fla. school bus driver is under intense scrutiny after he did not intervene while one of his passengers was nearly killed by three other boys on the bus last month. The bus driver has since retired but will not be facing any charges for his inaction.

The whole incident began when John Moody, 64, noticed three of his passengers get up from their seats and approach a 13-year-old boy. From there, the situation quickly turned ugly, as they started to land a barrage of punches and kicks to the boy's helpless body.

"You gotta get somebody here quick, quick, quick, quick," Moody could be heard pleading in surveillance footage as the victim was mercilessly being beaten. "They are about to beat this boy to death."

Gulfport police officers soon descended upon the Pinellas County bus, but not before the victim suffered two black eyes along with a broken arm. The local police department initially chastised Moody and even threatened him with criminal charges for not helping the boy. There are plenty in the community, however, who believed the bus driver did the right thing.

"This is all anyone here is talking about and having been in that kind of situation many, many times, I've been doing a lot of the talking," said Warren Stewart, a former Virginia teacher who once headed his school's discipline program. "The driver absolutely did the right thing. He did what he was taught to do. He did what was legally correct to prevent a lawsuit."

Moody himself stated that he did not want to get involved in the fight for fear of what may happen to him or other students should the brawl get out of hand. Though he was initially threatened with charges by the Gulfport Police Department, those threats have since been dropped after it became clear that Moody's inaction was allowed by law.

That doesn't mean that the bus driver came out of the ordeal unscathed, however. Less than a week after the incident, Moody elected to retire from his job. He says that he still has nightmares over what happened that day, and is quite shaken by the whole experience.

"That driver did what was right for that situation because without being able to physically handle it he could have made matters far worse for everyone," Stewart says. "But it makes you think doesn't it? What if the driver had some martial arts training?"

Had Moody been trained in the martial arts, it certainly could have helped the victim, who remains unnamed. Though badly hurt, he is expected to recover, and his assailants were all eventually arrested. They are now being charged with felony assault.

What do you think, should school bus drivers be taught courses in self-defense and how to properly intervene during a physical altercation? Take a moment to comment below and give us your take on the story.