Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Attorney for boy found injured in Frayser bathroom blasts police handling of case

This from C-J:
An attorney representing a boy found injured in a bathroom at Frayser Elementary School last month said Tuesday that police have botched the investigation and failed to provide justice to the victim.

“We are extremely disappointed,” Teddy Gordon said. “We have tried everything to go forward.”

But a Louisville Metro Police spokesman said the department has been conducting dozens of interviews to piece together what happened. And while no final determination has been made, Sgt. Robert Biven said there is no definitive proof of foul play at this point.

On March 23, the second-grade boy was found in a locked bathroom stall hanging by his shirt collar on a hook on the back of the door. He was taken to Kosair Children's Hospital where he was hospitalized for several days before being released.

Gordon said the family believes the boy was assaulted by two fifth-graders and left to die...

“My fear is that there is a little bit of racial animus,” Gordon said, adding that a he believes a case involving a white student in eastern Louisville would have been handled more expeditiously...

[Louisville Metro Police spokesman Sgt. Robert] Biven said detectives still are working to figure out what happened, having interviewed several students and teachers at the school, and he said they are waiting on some medical reports they hope might provide some answers.Gordon said he believes school personnel are “circling the wagons” and the whole story is not being told. He said rather than wait for police to do something, he is trying to determine whether there are any legal steps that can be taken...

7 comments:

Rachael Adams said...

I was completely shocked as I was reading this article. I was blown away that they stated as of right now, no foul play is expected. I can not understand how they come to that conclusion. This boy was in the second grade. He did not place himself on the hook to hang there in a locked bathroom until someone came and found him. This is an act of a bully. It is unexpectable for something of this act should happen in our schools. The schools should be a place where parents feel comfortable to send their kids. Obviously, this school is not a safe place. I think it is time for the police involved in this case to step up and work harder to get the entire story. It is clear that parts are missing and if this case isnt solved, the bullying with continue.

Amanda Hubler said...

Wow, this is absurd. Bullying was at an all time high when I was in 5th grade, but there for awhile it seemed to be maintained to an extent. There has got to be another solution. Whatever program was in order at this school failed on various accounts. A child was found dead with no justice served. As I read this post I couldn't help but think of the role of the school system in this case. It seems as though they were almost absent and unaware of what was going on right beneath their noses. Teachers should know who enters and leaves there classrooms, and their should also be some sort of hallway monitoring whether it be an actual physical person or just simply cameras. Somebody wasn't doing their job if a kid managed to get beat to death at school. To not know who did it just makes matters worse.

Breanna Jones said...

I find this story quite interesting, though quite sad. This, in my opinion is very obviously a bullying case. How would a 2nd grade boy be able to hang himself on the hook on the back of a bathroom door? It isn't possible. No, they may not be able to say exactly what has happened in this case, but if they open their eyes, they could see that there was definitely foul play in this case. Knowing the racism issues in Louisville and how the city seems to be divided by race, I agree that racism may have been a factor in this. Regardless, I think this case should be handled better and taken more seriously than it seems to be by reading this article.

Amber Speedy said...

This is truely shocking to read about. This is a very serious situation and I really can't understand why this case hasn't been solved yet. The police and the school should be doing everything that they possibly can to figure out what happened. If this was in deed an act of bullying, then the school needs to do some major reform in the area of anti-bullying. There is definitely something wrong about this situation. If the child didn't do this himself, then I feel like the parents would be all over the school and the police to find out what really happened.

Heather Pfaff said...

This is really a failure for law enforcement and the school system. It's one thing to experience severe bullying in high school, but for a second grade boy to have to go through something so traumatic is completely absurd. There should have been monitoring going on in the halls of this grade school. It is also quite perplexing that foul play isn't suspected in this case. It is obvious that this child didn't do this to himself. The suspicion that race may play a factor in the sloppy solving of this case is also a great disappointment. The police are supposed to serve and protect all, not just cherry-pick what they feel is more important. Schools are supposed to be a safe haven for all students. Children are supposed to want to go to school, not be scared that something terrible is going to happen to them while no one is paying attention. This whole incident could have been prevented if the people at the school were doing their jobs and keeping a watchful eye out. Unfortunately, this wasn't prevented, so the school should be more involved in helping to solve the case. The police should be making this a higher priority than they actually are, because somebody knows something about what happened, and it is their job to find out.

Carla Tuccillo said...

After reading this story I was completely appalled at how this incident is being investigated. No matter the race, this incident is a terrible one and police should be working day in and out to find out what really happened that day in the bathroom. I think that it is awful that right now they are saying that there is no foul play at this point. If a boy is left to die hanging on the inside of a bathroom stall after being assaulted, of course there is foul play that has happened. I feel that there needs to be justice brought to this young boy and his family because of what happened. I also think that the teachers and principals of this school should step up their security so things like this do not happen ever again. This is an awful thing that should never have happened. I do not think people take bullying serious enough, and this is a prime example of why we should.

Kandyce Montgomery said...

In Response....

I was very shocked on how this case was handled as well. It is obvious that someone had to hang the boy from the stall. One thing I do not understand is that why the boy cannot tell what happened and who did it to him. I do think that this is also a problem showing that teachers need to know where their students are at all times, especially in elementary schools. When a students asks to go to the restroom and any where else in the building, the teacher should keep track on how long the student was gone from the classroom.