Suit claims autistic student suspended for fighting back

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ASPartOfMe
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18 Aug 2018, 2:23 am

Autistic student suspended for standing up to bullies, $5M suit claims

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An autistic Staten Island student got suspended for three days and was forced to miss the formal for his eighth grade graduation — all because he defended himself against bullies, his family says in a new lawsuit.

The teen’s family is suing the city for $5 million, claiming he was wrongfully punished for something his school should’ve done — and that’s stop his bullying.

During his eighth grade year at the Frank D. Paulo Intermediate School in Rossville, the boy had been mercilessly tormented, including one instance in May 2016 in which two classmates threatened to “kick his ass” and he was “thrown down a flight of stairs, thereby sustaining a broken arm,” his family’s suit says.

The student finally turned on his bullies on the morning of May 19, 2017 while they were out in the schoolyard — pushing them both down after they roughed him up, his mom said.

“Waiting for class to begin and they came up to him, making references to the first incident when he was pushed down the stairs,” his mom said. “One kid pushed him, and the other grabbed him around the neck. One punched him in the nose, [left] scratches on neck, shirt covered in blood. And he was trying to get them off of him…He pushed them.”

Dawn’s son got suspended through June 1 of that year, causing him to miss his graduation “prom” — which his family described as a “once-in-a-lifetime event.”

“Mentally, I don’t know if he is feeling better,” his mom said. “He refuses to talk about it.”

The boy had been registered as a participant in the school’s ASD [Autism Spectrum Disorder] Nest Program, and was “thus known to be at risk of being bullied, and was also known to have been previously bullied, battered, and assaulted by other students at the school,” the suit says.

He was getting picked on by two boys in particular, who were named in the suit.

They allegedly jumped him without any “warning, justification, or provocation” on numerous occasions, including the morning of May 13, 2016 — when the broken arm incident went down. The pair also threatened to “snap his neck,” the suit says.

Dawn claims school officials at IS 75 failed to “provide a safe/secure environment for students” — thus causing her son to be “threatened, assaulted, battered, bullied, and/or injured.”

To add insult to injury, he was then suspended “for no other reason than …being the innocent victim of the subject assault and battery.”

“He fought back and the school has a zero tolerance on touching and the suspended all the boys involved,” his mom explained. “He was very upset because he was excited [about prom] and it was the end of the year. And I had to tell him he couldn’t go.”

In response to the incident, the Department of Education told The Post it was going to look into the allegations.

It is hard to judge because we’re getting one side of story from a party seeking money.

If the events happened the way the mother described it.
Did the bullies get suspended for the other incidents and if they did was thier suspensions longer as it should have been because throwing a person down a flight of stairs is a lot more seroius then a person with a reasonable expectation of bieng thrown down the stairs again defending himself by pushing his tormenters down?

While skepticism anytime money is involved is a neccessity the claims in this suit ring true. A person retailiating, getting caught and punished while the instigators getting off scott free is common. Suspending everyone assosiated with an incident is typical cover your your ass mentality. And of course autistic students are usually bullied.


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thoughtbeast
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18 Aug 2018, 4:08 am

Quote:
During his eighth grade year at the Frank D. Paulo Intermediate School in Rossville, the boy had been mercilessly tormented, including one instance in May 2016 in which two classmates threatened to “kick his ass” and he was “thrown down a flight of stairs, thereby sustaining a broken arm,” his family’s suit says.


Why weren't the perps thrown into juvenile detention and expelled after throwing their victim down a flight of stairs, breaking his arm? The perps shouldn't have still been around to intimidate their victim a year later, forcing him to defend himself. If the school failed to act during that time, the parents should have filed an injury lawsuit for damages in court and obtained a restraining order to keep the perps away from their kid. :(

edit: From the following earlier article, it appears that the school is run by incompetent and uncaring administrators:

http://antiusurious.rssing.com/chan-208 ... l_p11.html



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18 Aug 2018, 5:47 am

The lesson – Don’t fight back; be the bully yourself.


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ASPartOfMe
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18 Aug 2018, 10:16 am

Spiderpig wrote:
The lesson – Don’t fight back; be the bully yourself.

And if you are incapable of bieng a bully for whatever reasons enjoy your broken bones and getting blamed.


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18 Aug 2018, 10:21 am

You have to think - who would the other kids back? If they back the bully, the kid's knackered even if he does stand up for himself. The other kids will laugh at the bully's friends taking revenge on him. If the other kids secretly admire the autistic kid but won't get involved, then defeating the bully makes him a power. It probably depends on the parents, and whether the parents (and even the child) are telling the truth.