Bathroom fight goes viral, charges and further reprimand pending
GRANGER, Ind.-- It's the video that's going viral; a fight between two 14-year-old boys at Discovery Middle School in Granger on Monday afternoon.
A redacted version of the St. Joseph County Police report spells out exactly what happened during this controversial fight in the boys' bathroom at the school.
According to the report, the victim in the video allegedly spit in the suspect's face before spring break.
The report says that this was the cause of the fight.
The video is sparking outrage in the community, especially among parents of students who attend Discovery Middle School.
“Don’t watch it more than once. It’s heartbreaking. I hope they have a nice long talk with their sons," said Jean Dewey, parent of a Discovery Middle School student.
The student who recorded the incident, said he's receiving death threats from multiple people saying they're going to find him and hurt him for standing behind the camera while what they thought to be an autistic child was being attacked.
The school says the victim is a general education student and not autistic or special needs.
Now the school wants to put the incident to rest.
Principal Sheryll Harper released a letter to parents on Tuesday morning. In it, she mentions that the fight was immediately handled by faculty and handed over to St. Joseph County Police. She said that the incident serves as a reminder to see something, say something and report all unsafe behavior to an adult.
Students can report anything that threatens the safety of the schools by using Safe School Helpline by either calling 1-800-418-6423 ext. 359, texting TIPS to 66746, or going online to safeschoolhelpline.com.
“I didn’t want to see it because it's so vile," said school volunteer Khushi Jariam.
“Obviously it's worse if he’s autistic but it shouldn’t change much because it's still one kid beating up another and that should never be the case," said Manav Jariam, a Granger resident.
Detectives have been assigned to the case. They will forward their report to the Juvenile Justice Center, then the prosecutor will determine if any charges will be filed.