There's an absolutely horrific story of bullying out of Mechanicsville, Maryland. Two girls are charged with tormenting a autistic classmate over several months--even going as far as forcing him to walk into a frozen pond.
The girls, ages 17 and 15, threatened the intellectually disabled victim with a knife, kicked him in the groin and dragged him around by his hair, said St. Mary's County Sheriff's Office Sgt. Cara Grumbels. They coerced him into walking on a partially frozen pond and then refused to help him out of the frigid water, she said.
Grumbles said the boy got out himself, but the prank could have turned deadly.
"You're dealing with somebody who doesn't have the mental capacity of you and I," she said. "Somebody like that could go into a kiddie pool and may not be able to get themselves out. That's what's really kind of disturbing to us, among the other allegations in this case. The whole thing's just very disturbing."
She said investigators haven't found any of the video online.
WJLA-TV in Washington led with this story last night.
Watch here.
The two girls, 17-year-old Lauren Bush and a 15-year-old juvenile whose name was not released, also forced the boy to perform sex acts and recorded them on the younger girl's cell phone. When the younger girl's mother found the video, she immediately reported it to a sheriff who works as a resource officer at Chopticon High School in Morganza, where all three attend. They were both arrested on Tuesday on charges of assault, false imprisonment and solicitation for child pornography. Bush is being charged as an adult, while the 15-year-old is (for now anyway) being tried as a juvenile.
Law enforcement officials are gobsmacked by this--and rightly so. St. Mary's County sheriff Tim Cameron calls this one of the most disturbing cases he's ever seen--and that's an understatement. It's pretty much taken for granted that more charges will be coming as investigators delve more into what happened to that boy--who has been confirmed as autistic by his parents--over three months.
This story really hits a personal nerve with me, as I myself witnessed someone taking advantage of an autistic person. Many of you know that my ex-wife's autistic son repeatedly threatened to beat me up--and finally made good on those threats on the day I finally left her. I'm convinced that my ex goaded him into making those threats--a classic case of knowing something happened, but not being able to get any definitive proof. It takes a really depraved person to take advantage of an autistic person in this manner--and it's why I hope they throw the library at those two girls. I know they may be teenagers, but if there is ever a situation which calls for someone to bear the opprobrium of what you do as a kid for a long time, it's this one.
12:30 PM PT: According to an article in the Washington Post (reprinted in the Baltimore Sun), the boy's mother says her son doesn't understand what these two girls did to him. It looks like these two took advantage of his limited social skills. That confirms my original take--these two should get the library thrown at them, and I hope that they at least consider charging the younger girl as an adult. (h/t to gchaucer2 and SilverWillow)