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Video Posted Of Student Getting Attacked In Middle School Bathroom

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File photo of Facebook. (Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

File photo of Facebook. (Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Sumter County deputies are investigating whether charges should be filed against teens seen on a video attacking a fellow student in the bathroom of a middle school.

The video was posted on the Internet shortly after the attack Thursday, then taken down. But the mother of the teen who appears to be assaulted in the video saved it and reposted it to her Facebook page, authorities said Monday.

The 38-second black-and-white clip from the video shows one boy put another boy in a chokehold in a bathroom at Hillcrest Middle School. He then slams the student into the wall and throws him to the floor. Other teens can be heard and seen urging on the attacking boy.

The Sumter County School District and law enforcement have confirmed the video is authentic and all the students involved are in the eighth grade. But authorities said the original video is much longer than the clip posted to YouTube and there is more happening than there first appears.

“We’re trying to determine if this was a staged incident or if both parties were willing participants,” school district spokeswoman Shelly Galloway said.

Sumter County Sheriff Anthony Dennis accompanied his deputies to the middle school Monday to investigate. He said all the children on the video and their parents are cooperating, and he hopes to decide whether to file charges later in the day.

The mother of the boy thrown to the floor in the video held an anti-bullying protest along with her son and about 10 other people outside the school Monday. Yolanda Windham didn’t return a phone message or a message left on Facebook from The Associated Press, but posted on her Facebook page that she will protest again Monday night at the county courthouse.

When she posted the video on Facebook, Windham wrote her 13-year-old son has a disease that weakens his muscles and a steel bar in his chest. She said the attack was planned.

“They even stated that my son agreed to be involved when they were confronted,” Windham wrote. “He was taken advantage of due to his condition.”

The school district said it has a strict anti-bullying response and anyone involved in fighting or bullying will be disciplined.

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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  • Joe Rodgers

    Hopefully, the authorities will not slap the back of their hands.
    This is serious stuff, some severe penalty should be paid so that others will see the light, maybe. Doubtful. We should not tolerate any degree of violence in our schools. It is almost always those with some disability or weakness that get picked on. This child’s mother should be supported. The idea to put this on the internet smacks of sick minds. Yes, sick minds.

  • Injustices

    What they’re also not mentioning is that the victim was white, the attackers black.
    Just like no one has really heard about the 13 y.o. white boy who had gas thrown on him then set on fire while making racial slurs. Then there’s the 15 y.o. Hispanic boy who was beaten by 7 black thugs in California. 6 miles from the Trayvon incident, a 51 y.o. white man was beaten with a hammer by 2 black youths and is now on life support. Anyone notice a pattern? While the Trayvon case is receiving massive media attention and protests all over the country, no one seems to be outraged at the blatant double standard. Doesn’t surprise me that the police aren’t even sure charges will be filed. I hope the boy receives the justice he deserves as well as the other victims who apparently are the wrong skin color.

    • Injustice Reigns Supreme

      Exactly. It’s TNB at its worst.

      What makes it worse is that the Sumter county deputies and school district are now desperately looking for a way to accuse the victim of setting the whole thing up instead of punishing the thugs that victimized him.

      As I have always thought. if it’s white on black call Al and form a lynch mob. If it’s black on white then it’s not a big deal. (After all whites deserve what they get. NOT.)

      • white people smell like poo poo

        white ppl are losers lol!

    • white people smell like poo poo

      What a crazy pattern!! You’ve figured it out! You should run to the nearest farm house, have a Dr. Pepper and call the police.

  • Victoria Teem

    everyone is making this sound worse than it rly is. i went to hillcrest middle school last year. i’m in 9th grade now. but when i went to hms, this stuff didn’t normally happen. i have tons of friends who go there. the fight was completly fake and planned. so rly, it’s not bullying. it’s just middle schoolers being middle schoolers. trust me, i know these people. this does not surprise me even the slightest bit. it’s not rly that big of a deal. it was planned. FAKE. and yet everyone’s turning it into a huge freaking controversy. actually, i think it’s kinda funny.

  • Victoria Teem

    *continuation of my previous comment*
    and even if this was real, do you know how many fights happen there? Actually, anywhere. there’s a LOT. when i went there, there was like, a fight once a week. at least. but my point is, do the fights get on the news and turn into a huge controversy? no. they don’t. so why all of a sudden is THIS “fight” so huge on the news? oh yeah, that’s right. because people want drama. =_=

    • ghettomaker

      Are you saying that negro students attacking crippled white students in school is common place? The attacker looked a head taller than the victim.

      • white people smell like poo poo

        somebody has to take out the white trash haha

    • Mike

      Victoria Teem
      you are an idiot.

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