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Cops: 65-Year-Old Bronx School Bus Driver Beaten Into Coma In Road Rage Incident

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- It was a case of road rage that could turn deadly.

The family of a school bus driver beaten into a coma is facing a heartbreaking decision. They talked to CBS 2's Derricke Dennis on Monday night about the shocking attack over a side-view mirror that could cost them a father and brother.

A watch, wallet, and glasses, the personal effects of a Bronx school bus driver who was attacked and knocked to the ground in a vicious assault caught on surveillance video. The savage beating has left him in a coma and on life support, and his family wondering what kind of monster would do this.

"I recorded it, and I watch it all the time. I do because I can't believe this is happening to my father," Mariella DelValle said of her dad, 65-year-old Juan DelValle.

CBS 2's Dennis obtained a photo of Juan DelValle, a dedicated and popular bus driver, showing him and his family from his bed at Saint Barnabas Hospital, where he's been since last Monday with no change.

He's in this predicament because his bus accidentally side-swiped a parked car, sending the owner into a punching and knocking rage that sent DelValle to the ground, with his head hitting the pavement. Doctors said he has permanent brain damage and his family could take him off life support later this week.

"I feel horrible. I mean what can you feel? Your father is lying in the hospital dying and you can't help him to survive," Mariella DelValle said.

The video is hard to watch. It was taken from a nearby bodega, caught on surveillance cameras. DelValle's family said how the driver fell is the reason he's dying.

"His head came back and hit the other way, so the damage is all over," said the victim's sister, Carmen Perez.

Juan DelValle's sister and daughter picked up his belongings from police investigators, including a watch, which was broken in the attack, and a gold charm.

The family said it wants a long prison sentence for the suspected attacker in the video, identified as 30-year-old Joey Scott of the Bronx, a career criminal who could face an upgraded charge of murder, police said.

"This is somebody that took my father's life. He's not gone yet, but attempting to take my father's life," Mariella DelValle said.

Juan DelValle's family said he was just days away from retirement and was planning to leave his bus route at the end of this school year.

It's now up to Bronx District Attorney Robert Johnson to decide whether the charges against the suspect in the beating should be upgraded.

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