Restroom beating of special-needs student posted online — but classmates wouldn’t stand for it

What happened?

• A special-needs student said he was attacked inside the boys restroom at his Oklahoma high school Oct. 4, police told KFOR-TV.
• The victim has a neurological disorder and a device to relieve pressure caused by brain fluid, the station said, citing a police report.

• The report added that the victim said he was “just talking to my friends and one of my friends said, ‘Do you want to fight?’ I said, ‘No,'” but that his friends took him into the restroom, KFOR reported.
• Authorities told the station the beating at Edmond Memorial High School was captured on a student’s cellphone.
• “It shows the victim being punched repeatedly in the chest and the back, and actually turning kind of in protection away from the student that’s punching him,” Jennifer Wagnon of the Edmond Police Department told KFOR.
• The suspect is heard saying, “Swing on me,” the station said.
• The student doing the punching “is egging him on to punch him back. That obviously never happens,” Wagnon added to KFOR.

What happened to the video?

• The cellphone video was shared on social media, the station said.

How did other students respond?

• Several students approached school leaders to report the beating, KFOR reported.

What happened next?

• Within 24 hours, a suspect was arrested and charged with assault and battery, the station said.

What did the arrested student say?

• “The student that we arrested said it started in the cafeteria, that the other student had asked him to fight, had wanted to fight,” Wagnon told KFOR. “The video does not show that part of it at all.”

How did the school district react?

• Edmond Public Schools said it’s proud of the students who came forward, the station said, noting in a statement that “we appreciate the students who, after viewing the video, made the bold decision to come forward and report the incident to school administration and the SRO on behalf of a fellow classmate.”
• The district couldn’t disclose disciplinary action taken against the suspect, KFOR reported.

(H/T: Blue Lives Matter)