Injury From School Bully
Schools must supervise their students. That includes protecting children from a playground bully and from playing dangerous games. As Orlando injury lawyers, we find the circumstances surrounding a recent case troubling.
A 12 year boy was knocked down by a bully at a central Florida school. Of course that can happen, but when the boy tried to stand, the bully attacked him again. This time the bully jumped on the other student and broke his arm and caused injury to his forearm. The resulting damage to the boy’s radial nerve left him unable to open his left hand.
As concerned parents learning about the incident to their son, the boys mother and father demanded an apology from the school and an explanation of why there were no teachers around to prevent the attack. Amazingly, the school refused! Having no recourse, the parents sought legal advice and eventually filed a lawsuit against the school.
The defense to the action focused on children being children. That boys have always played around, wrestling and bonding together. However, this defense illustrated the need to more closely supervise children on the playground.
In this case, the students were playing a game which called for the boy with the ball to be tackled and stripped of the ball. This very game had previously been banned as dangerous by the school. This time no body from the school was watching. The injured boy, who had refused to play this inappropriate game was simply standing around during recess. He was jumped by the bully as recess was ending.
