My son was emotionally, physically, and psychologically bullied at all of the Lee's Summit schools that he attended by both peers and faculty. When are we going to stop the victimization of autistic students?
BAY VILLAGE, Ohio -- Dozens of people from Bay and other communities turned out Friday evening to promote tolerance and show their support for the teen who was the victim of the fake ALS Ice Bucket Challenge.
The family of the victim, who has autism, reported the incident to Bay police on Wednesday. The family said the bucket dumped on the teen contained urine, feces and spit. A video of the incident was posted to social media. Those involved are believed to be Bay High classmates of the teenager.
**Important note: The family asked that we show the video to make other parents aware of bullying.**
BAY VILLAGE, Ohio – Police are investigating an alleged case of bullying involving a teenager with autism who took the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge.
“Once we found out about it, we were just horrified,” said Diane, the mother of the Bay High School student. She claimed her youngest son was videotaped as feces, urine, spit and cigarette butts were dumped on his head by a group of juveniles.
“I want these kids held accountable for what they did to him and they targeted somebody who just didn’t really understand what was going on,” she said.
FOX 8 News is not identifying the family by last name to help protect their son.
According to the victim’s mom, Diane, the video was discovered on her 15-year-old son’s cell phone. She, along with her husband and other son, Jacob, wants it to be made public.
“I mean, the first thing that popped into my mind was like, why could someone – how could someone do this?” said Jacob. “How could someone really be this cruel to someone?”
In the video, the boy with autism is seen standing in the driveway of a home off school grounds. He’s wearing only his underwear as a bucket of fluid is poured from the roof of the garage. The bucket allegedly contained a mix of bodily fluids instead of ice water.
“He was embarrassed because he did not know what the contents were until afterwards and then he didn’t want anybody to know,” said his mom. “They used his phone to tape it and they put it up on Instagram.”
“This is just too far. It’s really bad,” said his brother, Jacob.
The Bay Village Police Department was made aware of the alleged incident on Wednesday. According to Det. Kevin Krolkosky, criminal charges could be filed.
“It’s disturbing to watch, you can obviously tell that somebody has been taking advantage of there,” said the detective.
Det. Krolkosky met with the parents and said it’s not a prank; it’s possibly a crime committed on the boy with autism by a group of juveniles who could face delinquency charges.
A spokesperson for Bay High School, where the victim is a student, said they’re now working hand-in-hand with police as they investigate.
“Obviously, if possible, we do want to hold those individuals accountable for their actions,” said Det. Krolkosky.
The police are just beginning their investigation and we’re told it could take a few weeks to file charges but they have a good idea who was involved.
“The bucket challenge is supposed to be raising awareness for this disease and now they’ve turned it into a sick joke,” said the victim’s mom. “I just can’t understand why kids would do something this cruel.”
The boy’s mom and dad wanted the video released to make other parents aware of bullying so they’ll have a conversation with their kids on how to treat people.
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