The father of an 11-year-old boy who was injured when he jumped out of a school bus says his son was being bullied. Luckily, the bus was stopped in a turn lane when the boy decided to jump out the window on May 5. He landed on a passing pick-up truck but then fell off and onto the highway.
The boy, who was not identified, suffered a broken elbow and a concussion.
The boy's father, Dion Murphy, told WAGA that his son had been dealing with bullying from older students all year and that the school did nothing to stop it.
Murphy even met with school officials in March, but nothing was done to stop the bullying. After his son was injured, Murphy met with the school again, and they reviewed surveillance footage of numerous bullying incidents on the bus.
"I recently saw a tape that a girl was hitting on him as well. There's another tape of him being dragged down the aisle, there's more video of the boys from this May 5th situation," Murphy said. "There's more tapes, and that's why I'm so upset because the school neglected the bullying act and did not do anything about it. They took it as horse-play, but my son could have lost his life."
Murphy also watched the video of the incident that caused his son to jump out of the bus.
"One student jumped in his face, he was pushing him against the window, when he fell, the other student took his shoe, and in a desperate attempt to escape it, he jumped out the window," Murphy said.
A spokesperson for Walton County Schools told the news station they are taking the allegations seriously and the incident is being investigated.
"School and district officials are aware of the bullying allegations made in connection with this event. The Walton County School District does not tolerate bullying and harassment of any kind. The incident is being thoroughly investigated by school officials, and any disciplinary issues that may arise will be handled appropriately at the school level."
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