Parents of a young boy claim a bully sent their 8-year-old son to the hospital and doctors were fighting to save the his leg after an injury at the elementary school. According to his family, the young student got up to look at the whiteboard and the bully, who was not identified due to his age, reportedly placed a pencil standing up, which the student kneeled directly onto. The pencil penetrated to the knee bone, fracturing it and leaving a bacterial infection under the muscle, the boy’s mom reportedly said. According to the parents, the doctors expect the 8-year-old student to be in hospital for at least 2 weeks and he will need 4-6 weeks of home health services after being released.
The boy’s mother, Madeline Flores, told FOX 11 that her 8-year-old son, Carter, was sent to the hospital and doctors had to perform multiple surgeries to save his leg after a second-grade bully used a pencil to intentionally hurt her son. When Carter arrived at the hospital, the doctors told the mother that if they came to the hospital 12 hours later than their actual arrival time, the 8-year-old may have had to get his leg amputated.
During an interview with FOX11, Flores reportedly said: “For them to tell you that he might come out of surgery with a hole in his leg because they would have to cut out as much tissue, or that they might have to amputate his leg, or that if it gets in his blood, he could die. They had to come to terms with my son being critically ill at one point, and it was the most heartbreaking thing because he doesn’t understand why somebody would want to hurt him. He just wants to be friends with everybody at his school.”
The unfortunate parents also said that the second-grade bully completely turned their son’s life upside down. According to Flores, the new student did not want to be friends with her son and had been bullying the 8-year-old boy all year.
“My son was going to see the whiteboard, to reference it for his schoolwork so he could finish it, and when he went to kneel the little boy was behind him, and he held the pencil with the tip pre-sharpened. When my son’s knee came down on it, it came down, it went all the way through, it fractured his patella. That then led to a Strep A infection. The hospital here, they were able to work fast, and get him into surgery quick enough to prevent it from spreading into the blood.” the mother told NBC News.
According to the mother, the boy was also misdiagnosed at a different hospital and is now fighting Strep A, a potentially deadly bacterial infection. The school district released a statement and said that ‘after a thorough investigation of the incident of the students involved and several witnesses, it was determined to be an unfortunate accident.’
But, according to Flores, an accident is something that wasn’t able to be prevented. The upset mom claims that this was completely preventable. The bully who injured Carter also punched him on at least two prior occasions since the beginning of the school year. The family’s attorney says school administrators were notified about each of those incidents.
Carter’s parents also said that their son’s teacher and school officials were aware of the bullying and promised to do something about it. The parents also said that the school officials never interviewed their son about the incident. The parents from California also want tougher consequences for bullies, per reports.
The family has launched an online fundraiser to raise money for the medical expenses. According to the parents, the doctors expect Carter to be in hospital for at least 2 weeks and he will need 4-6 weeks of home health services after being released.
“Carter was being bullied at school by the same student for awhile. This week, Carter was significantly injured by the bully at school. Carter got up to look at the whiteboard & the bully placed a pencil standing up, which Carter kneeled directly onto. The pencil penetrated to the knee bone—fracturing it & leaving a bacterial infection under the muscle.” the GoFundMe Page wrote.