District Under Fire For Punishing Student Bullied In Viral Video
See video footage of a fight involving a student chokehold where the perceived victim was punished following the events.
An incident involving bullying and a student chokehold has nabbed quite a bit of viral attention over the internet. Libs of TikTok, a popular social media account known to expose controversial findings in public schools shared the video recently, fanning the flames of the debate. On one side, it appears that the bullied boy might have been unrightfully targeted and disciplined by the school, while the perpetrator got off on lesser punishment. However, there may be more to the story than what meets the eye. See the video footage captured by another student below.
In the video, the curly-haired boy in the tie-dye sweatshirt can be seen bullying the other student sitting in what appears to be the school’s cafeteria. Telling him to “get the f*** out,” he puts the student in a chokehold maneuver, but the other student refuses to budge from his seat. The fight continues, and eventually, the video ends as the standing student again puts the boy into another chokehold, bringing him to the ground.
As Libs of Tiktok shared the video, the user stated that the school district punished the student chokehold victim by suspending him for three days. According to news reports from WFAA, the incident happened at a Coppell Middle School North in Texas. The student who was placed in the violent hold was in fact, punished following the incident.
School officials responded to the student chokehold by giving the perpetrator a one-day in-school suspension, but the other boy was given three days in-school suspension. Furthermore, after the video went viral, users were outraged. People wanted to know why the boy, who appeared to be the victim of a school bully, was given any punishment at all, let alone stricter sentencing.
Further context in regards to what led up to the video footage may shed light on the matter. The Dallas Morning News further investigated the incident. They reported that an attorney for the family of the alleged bully was acting in the matter following violent threats that the sitting student made against the student’s younger brother, along with similar threats to other family members of students at the table. It is unknown what these threats exactly were, but they likely abetted school officials into handing out the harsher punishment. Furthermore, the school district’s superintendent released another statement this past Sunday. Acknowledging that the video is making its way across social media, he said the district is continuing its investigation into the matter of the student chokehold.
At this point in time, it is very hard to draw blame without knowing the full context of events in the case of the student’s chokehold. But despite that, many still feel like the punishment was unfairly shelled out, especially considering the standing students’ use of a violent maneuver. According to reports from The Fort-Worth Star telegram, the victim’s family is now seeking legal aid and trying to get the other student expelled from the school. Also, the family’s lawyer claims the standing student is a member of the school’s wrestling team and cited him for carrying out a lethal carotid restraint that could have possibly killed her son.
Semantics aside, issues like this student chokehold occurrence are known to be a common affair in schools across America. Media outlets depict how sinister the situation is becoming, as more and more districts report a rise in student violence in recent years. Whether or not school officials punished the students accordingly is moot, in the growing rate at which students are found to be attacking one another.
