A 14-year-old Virginia boy has been charged with two counts of assault for fighting back against a group of at least four relentless high school bullies, a losing battle that left him brutally beaten and hospitalized for nine days.
The teen victim, Eric Martin, has also been banned from attending Highland Springs High School in Henrico until he signs a form saying he threatened the school, a baseless allegation the school can’t prove.
Eric’s mother, Mary Martin, says the school is enacting harsh punishment on her son because he threw the first punch in the altercation, which happened on school grounds. In an interview with NBC 12, she claims Eric had been continually bullied by the boys who beat him, called “gay” and a “faggot,” and implies the school did nothing to stop it.
Though it’s unfortunate that a fight broke out in the first place, Mary Martin says her son was only fighting back as a last resort, and is being punished too harshly.
How about we take this to the next level?
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Eric reportedly suffered a broken arm and concussion as a result of the attack, and was also on suicide watch at the hospital.
“I’m angry, and I’m hurt,” Mary Martin told NBC 12. “He’s got bruises all down the spine of his back where he was just slammed on that table.”
“So in other words the four or five boys can beat my boy to death,” she said, “and he gets one slap in and gets charged, too? That’s plain ridiculous.”
Cam
This is typical school behavior when they know that they are basically breaking the law..
The bigoted School admins. try to blame the victim. Then they make up a phony charge to threaten the students parents with to intimidate them into agreeing not to sue….
Because they KNOW that they are screwing this kid over and have to cover their own asses.
The SECOND that this goes to a court the school will back down.
DickieJohnson
@Cam: My knowledge of Law is virtually nil. Why can’t a (civil rights?) law(s) be passed for zero-tolerance of bullying in schools, for any reason?
Billysees
@DickieJohnson:
“Why can’t a (civil rights?) law(s) be passed for zero-tolerance of bullying in schools, for any reason?”
That is a most ‘perfect’ question to ask, but ‘why’ isn’t there an appropriate answer to it?
What is so hard about creating good, meaningful laws to ‘protect everybody’?
Cam
Great questions!
The thing is, the school knows that they could be in trouble for allowing this kid to be harrassed for a long period of time. So if they can lie and pretend that he was the trouble maker it could get them off the hook.
They need a lawyer to go after the school admins.
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
Every adult involved in this horrific story should be terminated and sued……
I wish every parent of a kid like Eric would act like my friend from elementary school Jeremeys………..
Jeremy was a short tiny little boy who was probably the Gayest kid in the history of the world. We used to joke he came out of his Mother and then immediatley came out again :p He used to pick out a color coordinated ensemble each and every day to match his outrageous hair color of the week………
Early on his Parents rather than attempt to change who he was, enrolled him in martial arts training. He was a quick study and by age nine he had achieved several advanced belts. To this day very few things give me as much satisfaction as watching Jeremy put a fat ass bully usually twice his size on his said fat ass in a nanosecond…….
Jeremy would stand over the bully and once the stars he was seeing stopped spinning and tell him “you just had your one and only warning, you pick on me or anyone else and I promise I am going to act twice as stupid as you do”……….Never had a repeat customer………….
Cam
@PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS:
I love that!
Dave084
That is a great story. I wish the world was full of Jeremys. Oh to see the look on that fat ass when he was laid out.
Chris
Advice to Eric and his parents: lawyer up and sure the school and kids who did this to him. The school has some legal responsibilities and they should be made to pay.
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
@Cam: tyvm
@Dave084: And more full of Jeremy’s parents who embraced their amazing little Gay kid! And the looks were truly a thing of absolute joy and bewilderment :p
Ogre Magi
@PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS: WOW, that is an awesome story
Ogre Magi
We needs to find out who Eric Martin’s bullies are (and who their parents are) and give them some internet justice
DickieJohnson
Situations such as this one, in my opinion, need to have gay lawyers step up to handle them, pro bono if need be. Public attention should be brought to them, and then, maybe other measures would follow. The school officials need to really catch some consequences for their actions, or lack thereof.
Billysees
@DickieJohnson:
In an earlier response to a good question you asked, I replied “What is so hard about creating good, meaningful laws to ‘protect everybody’?
After thinking more about this, I’ve concluded the reason school based laws protecting students from bullying are ‘not consistent’ is that there are school officials who simply ‘don’t care’. They may see bullying as some kind of natural way to punish the students they don’t like.
Sadly, it is the LGBT students they don’t care about.
The only thing these people will respond to is ‘litigation’ and public exposure.