Tags:
| Updated: 3/15/2012 4:23 pm |
Published: 3/14/2012 9:43 pm |
CONWAY, AR - A 16-year-old Conway boy faces a charge of third degree battery after police say he beat up a freshman in a stairwell at school and knocked him unconscious.
Virginia Pitts tells FOX16 that she doesn't want us to identify her son because she fears for his safety at Conway High East. The 14-year-old has a history of getting bullied, but what happened Monday at school could have cost him his life.
Wednesday, she told FOX16 what it was like watching surveillance video of the fight.
"It was, it wasn't a pretty sight, to put it like that. It wasn't pretty at all. He was knocked unconscious," says Pitts.
"What was that like to see your son unconscious?" asked FOX16's Kelly Dudzik.
"I started to cry, and I just couldn't watch anymore of it," said the mother.
Pitts rushed to the school Monday morning after police say a 16-year-old, who weighs almost twice as much as her son, knocked her 14-year-old out cold. FOX16 is not identifying the accused boy because he is under 18.
"I just embraced him, and, I told him, I know you were scared and me and your dad is going to take care of you," says Pitts.
Wednesday, Pitts says her son still has three bumps on his head, cuts and bruises, but on Monday, the nurse gave a head injury report to Pitts and told her to take the child to the doctor. He went in for x-rays and should be okay.
Still, Pitts worries about what she and her husband saw on the video.
"You don't see any faculty on the video. I know it's on the staircase, but you don't see any faculty on that video at all," she says.
"The whole time?" asked Dudzik.
"The whole time," said Pitts.
Pitts says her son has never had problems with the 16-year-old. A police report describes an incident Friday where Pitts' son accidentally hit a girl in the mouth. Pitts thinks the girl told the 16-year-old, and he beat up her son to retaliate.
Pitts now gives a lot of credit to the two friends who helped her son up when he regained consciousness and helped him get to the principal's office after Monday's fight.
"I thank them from the bottom of my heart that helped him. Get up, and, you know, go to the office and, you know, report it," she says.
Pitts' son plans on returning to school Thursday, but since bullies have picked on him since fifth grade, she knows he could still face challenges.
"I am so sick of people bullying, and somewhere it has to stop," she said.
The Conway School District spokesperson told FOX16 that the superintendent says there is no video of the fight. He added that if the district had it, it wouldn't give it to FOX16 because it shows other children.
When we asked whether the video exists and if the school just doesn't have it anymore, he said that might be the case.
The Conway Police Department has the video, mentions it in the police report, but can't give it to us because the case is still under investigation.
The school district spokesperson says he can't share disciplinary records with the media, so FOX16 does not know if the 16-year-old is back at school.
