There are few certainties in life, few things you can really pinpoint and say “this is right” or “this is wrong.” Hitting disabled and/or blind kids falls into the category of “no, that’s wrong, you shouldn’t do that.”
On Wednesday afternoon, three students at a Huntington Beach High School were involved in an altercation. According to CBS LA, one of those students was blind. He was being bullied and picked on by another kid for no reason.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DO9A-yn0Ob4
“The victim and suspect know each other and have a history of not getting along. Yesterday, the victim walked past the suspect and they got into an argument. At that time, the suspect punched the victim several times and that is when the third student intervened and struck the suspect to prevent any further attack on the victim.”
Now to the third person in the fight, the boy many are calling a hero. The boy who told the bully, “You trying to jump a f*cking blind kid, bro? What the f*ck is your problem?” Yeah, that kid. Well, the school has a no-violence policy (what school doesn’t?) and suspended him from the football team. Because, you know, rules are made in a vacuum and individual cases be damned. Naturally, someone started a petition to get this hero back on the football team.
Cody stepped in when he saw his friend and fellow classmate who is visually disabled being physically bullied (punched multiple times in face/head). Cody comes and steps in, punches the bully one time to get him away, guides his friend to a safe location and talks to the bully about how he was beating up a blind kid and how it was wrong. There is YouTube video of the main part of the confrontation.
We believe Cody should be back on his football team and back in school where he belongs. While violence is never the best option, what Cody did to defend his friend and classmate was justified. And schools’ “zero-tolerance” policies out even the person saving disabled friends.
The school isn’t going to change their mind, regardless of how many signatures there are on this petition. For what it’s worth, the bully was arrested on misdemeanor battery charges and returned to his parents. They must be so proud.
[CBS LA]
