Ohio police have launched an investigation involving a group of school bullies that allegedly tortured a fellow classmate with disabilities.
According to a report filed with the Sylvania Police Department, authorities are investigating bullies at McCord Road Junior High for violating the Safe Schools Act.
Police officers are now interviewing other students that may have witnessed the shocking incident, which reportedly occurred at a girls’ basketball game last Thursday.
As Joni Meyer-Crothers explained to WTOL, her 14-year-old son Isaiah was having a good time at the game, until a group of boys tricked him into licking a push pop that they had rubbed inside a urinal.
"I think what hurts me more than anything is they did it in front of 30 of his peers and that nobody felt the need to go and tell somebody," Meyer-Crothers said.
Isaiah, who suffers from mental disabilities, told WTOL that he had always wanted to fit in at school and thought the other boys were his friends.
"The boys had rubbed the push pop in the urinal and had Isaiah lick it," said Meyer-Crothers. "First of all, how degrading is that to think that your kid went through that. And how degrading is that for him to have to call the pediatrician to get a ton of testing to make sure he doesn't pick up any diseases."
Although the same classmates have been picking on Isaiah since the second grade, he didn’t come forward about the incident at first because he didn’t want the bullying to get worse.
It wasn’t until two girls, who weren’t in the crowd of students watching Isaiah lick the push pop, came forward that Meyer-Crothers finally got a call from the school.
As a mom, she hopes this police investigation will set an example for any future bullies at the school.
"It was never fully listening to what was going on and I think this is the first time that I think maybe because of the severity that the school is like 'maybe what they've been saying all along is true' or maybe they finally get it too," Meyer-Crothers said.
"I'm hoping this bullying stops throughout the school system and we can all be friends and it can go away and everybody can stick up for each other," Isaiah added.
