An off-duty crossing guard for Drexel Middle School was arrested last Thursday for allegedly beating a 14-year-old boy who taunted him during the school year.

Gerald Kelly, 60, of the 300-block of Shadeland Avenue in Drexel Hill was arrested June 24 after he assaulted the young teen outside a pharmacy after school hours, police say.

“This was a get-even attack,” police Superintendent Michael Chitwood told the Delaware County Times. “It was certainly inappropriate behavior.”

According to Chitwood, the Drexel Hill Middle School student had taunted Kelly with names like “fatso” and “fat man” throughout the year.

"But on this day, as far as we know, he wasn't taunting him,” Chitwood told the Daily News.

The boy was sitting outside the Shadeland Avenue Pharmacy on Garrett Road when Kelly, a 6-foot 4-inch-tall, 200-pound man with a criminal history of assault, attacked the 14-year-old after the two exchanged words, Chitwood said.

“The victim identified Kelly as the crossing guard at his school and says he calls the man ‘fatboy’ or ‘fatman,’” Chitwood told the Delaware County Times. “The crossing guard started to kick at him and put his foot on his chest then his neck. The kid hit his head on the sidewalk, causing a lump on the back of his head.”

At least two people witnessed the assault, Chitwood said.

Kelly was hired by the Upper Darby School District as a crossing guard in October 2009, according to district officials.

Kelly was arrested on charges of simple assault and harassment.

“I don’t think I’d want this guy crossing my kids,” Chitwood said. “I don’t know what the criteria is for hiring crossing guards. We have nothing to do with hiring crossing guards.”

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Recommended solution:

1. Kelly is terminated from crossing guard job, enrolled in mandatory anger management classes, placed on probation - never to work in another job involving contact with young, disrespectful assholes.

2. Kid's parents serve jail time, no parole, for willful neglect and causing harm to a minor as demonstrated by their son's disrespect for his elders and failure to follow accepted societal norms. Their son is on course to grow up to be a criminal and/or a burden on society. Intervention may save the son, but the parents are beyond redemption.

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