BELLEVILLE — Two Belleville West High School students were charged with felony counts of aggravated battery on Friday after the beating of a 17-year-old on a school bus earlier this week.

The school district, meanwhile, released a memo from the bus company that faulted the driver for neglecting to stop the bus and prevent a second attack — despite the fact that the company previously told the public he followed protocol.

The beating, videotaped by the school bus camera, grabbed national attention and incited a heated debate about race. Police said the assaults, involving a white victim and two black assailants, may have been racially motivated.

Authorities later recanted that claim. But the accusation stuck, in both national media and among residents here. Many criticized the school district for not punishing the students more severely.

The felony charges sought in St. Clair County Court on Friday could land the two young men — 14 and 15 years old — in the juvenile corrections system, though prosecutors could not say what the maximum penalty might be.

Robert Haida, the St. Clair County state's attorney, said Illinois law mandates that a minor can be charged in adult court only if the case involves certain crimes, such as murder, aggravated criminal sexual assault or armed robbery with a firearm.

Illinois law shields the disclosure of the names of juvenile offenders because they are minors.

The story broke Monday evening, when Belleville police released video of the morning's incident.

The footage depicts a 17-year-old student walking down the bus aisle, scanning for a seat. But when the victim sits, the attacker — one of those charged Friday — begins to push him, trying to get him off the seat.

The two exchange words, and then the attacker grabs him by the neck, and begins hitting him on the side of his face, before other students separate the two.

Five minutes after the first attack, a second student suddenly stands, walks down the aisle, and attacks, too, punching the same student several more times.

High school officials suspended several students that day, including the two attackers, who face expulsion hearings. And the district superintendent called the assault the most severe in his four years.

But new details constantly came to the surface this week, through students who were on the bus, or who had taken it in the past.

Some said early in the week that the victim had been picked on, and often denied a seat.

But later, other students said that the bus, Number 117, was frequently so full that many students struggled to find seats, and was so rowdy that some said they feared for their own safety.

"I hate riding the bus," said senior Kristin Phillips, 18, who said she, too, has been attacked on a Belleville West high school bus. "Hate it. You see that video? It's always like that."

A Belleville police report said students followed Phillips off a bus in March and attacked her.

The incident is over — a one-time thing, Phillips said — but she still won't ride the bus anymore.

Some other students said the same: Sometimes things like this just happen.

Deravion Allmon, 16, said he is good friends with the victim. He said this was the first time he'd heard of his friend being attacked. "He don't like to mess with nobody," Deravion said.

District Superintendent Greg Moats disputes claims that buses are often rowdy. Drivers, he said, need only fill out referral forms, and school administrators deal with the issues as quickly as possible.

The victim's home was empty Friday. Deravion said he hadn't seen him recently — either at school or in the neighborhood.

The bus driver, too, has been removed.

A spokeswoman for First Student, the company contracted to provide district bus services, had said early this week that the driver did everything according to protocol.

But a memo from First Student to Superintendent Moats holds the driver, whose name has not been made public, more accountable.

The memo, from company liaison Donna Griffin the day after the incident, describes the attack as seen in the video. Griffin says that she has suspended the driver, that "his employment with First Student will be pending the outcome of my findings," and that he will be removed from district routes permanently.

"I feel if the driver had stopped the bus safely when he first noticed a problem at the time of the first fight, the second fight would have been avoided," the letter says. "Even if the driver had never seen the actual fight, he still would have seen how all the students were standing up, yelling and acting, which indicates a big problem."

First Student spokeswoman Maureen Richmond said the company stands behind its initial statement.

The driver, she said, will be reinstated in another area district.

The School Board meets Monday evening. It could take up the students' expulsions at that time.