BOSTON -- An 11-year-old autistic Massachusetts boy was brutally attacked after school last month and police are now planning to charge some of his classmates in the case. The attack happened Sept. 28 in Templeton, a community about 40 miles northwest of Worcester.The boy, whose name was not released, was beaten after stepping off the school bus near Baldwin Drive and the entire attack was captured on videotape.
"They do know he tried to fight back, but there were five of them, so there's no way he could have," his aunt said, choking back tears. "They pushed him in a mailbox and he cut his hand and they have a picture of that." His aunt and legal guardian said the fifth-grader suffers from Asperger's syndrome."When I watched the tape I was devastated. I'm absolutely devastated that these kids could do this," she said.
The kids who allegedly attacked the boy had previously teased the victim. One of the children, a girl, allegedly handed a video camera to a boy and asked him to record her as she started pushing and shoving the victim as the group neared some woods."They have video them pushing him in the woods and him being in there and them saying, 'Kick him while he's down,' and 'Do it again,'" his aunt said.
She said her nephew returned home 15 minutes late and struggled to tell her what happened. She said bruises appeared on his legs and arms the day after the attack. She filed a police report.The two girls and three boys who were accused of attacking the boy were suspended from the Narragansett Middle School for the week and the school held an assembly on bullying."We were very upset with what we saw," School Superintendent Dr. Stephen Hemman said. "We worked very well with the police and he was right on top of that and the parents of these students were brought in and talked with and appropriate action was taken against those students."
The mother of the boy who videotaped the assault said her child had no idea what was going to happen but also did not try to stop the attack. She said now he is very remorseful and wishes he had helped the victim. She said he has since apologized to the boy.
In the meantime, the victim's aunt said she's worried he will regress."This impacted him greatly. He's lost a lot of his independence. The trust that he's had is not there," she said. Police are filing charges against his classmates in juvenile court.
(I am speechless)
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6 comments:
Oh my gosh this is so horrible. I think of K.C. and how he could be victimized so easily and not have a voice to call out for "help." Worries me alot. I pray those kids were expelled from that school. They even videotaped it! Makes me furious! The little boy has got to be traumatized. Prayers for him and his family.
This made me feel so sad when I first heard of it. My first thought was "I hope the parents do not send him back there to school".
What is happening to our children that they wpuld do such a thing? Children have always been bullied or bullies; but what I hear on the news today...and the ferociousness of our youth is just bone chilling.
yes it is very disturbing
Yes, kids as well as adults are just so much more mean and hateful now then when even you were small and in school.
It use to be bullies would call names to a child, and sometimes say nasty things but nothing like fighting five on one.
If an adult isn't told, and no action is taken, then you end up with something like these kids. I wonder, what kind of home life do they have? Do they go home to an empty house each day, are they allowed to watch what ever they want on TV, do their parents just turn them out to run and go where ever they wish?
Fifth graders are pretty good size kids. Back when you were in the fifth grade, I truly doubt any girl would have taken part in anything like this attack.
You hear more and more about girls, young teen age girls and even women doing things now adays that they wouldn't have dreamed of doing years ago.
It has to stop someplace. I would worry if I had children in school. I often think about Alex, Noah and Audrey. I pray each night they are kept safe each day.
Melissa mentioned how Audrey's school has drills now about lock downs. Something we would never have dreamed about before Columbine.
Hope you two enjoy your dinner this evening with Grandma C. Love you both
yep another reason I would just rather keep Noah here all the time...but then again that is not really the best for him and he would not really be living his life. However....there are some better schools and areas than some....although things like this can now unfortunately seem to happen anywhere or at any time.
Oh my God. Miss M was picked on last week - on the bus. I was totally freaked out, and my husband said, "Well, nothing can happen on those buses."
I have to show him this post. The bus driver must have heard/seen/something on the bus, so that when the poor kid got off, he might not have been ambushed.
I don't know whether to be mad or sad.
Unbelievable.
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