Pierce County Sheriff’s Office investigating bullying video
Aug 30, 2012, 5:33 AM | Updated: 7:43 am
The Pierce County Sheriff’s Office is examining videos and documents in the case of a Gig Harbor eighth grader being tormented and bullied while a teacher watched to see if there is any evidence of a crime.
Detectives have asked for all the original, non-redacted documents and videos from the Peninsula School District. It is also investigating whether the district reported the incident to police or the state because it could be considered abuse.
A second video released Wednesday, shows more of the events following the content of the original video posted by The News Tribune that shows the boy being held down by chairs. It shows him being swung by the arms and legs. It also shows the boy playfully messing with the teacher, play fighting and wrestling. At times, it looks like the boy might be OK with what’s going on.
But his parents think that might have been a coping mechanism.
His mother Karla Kinney tells KING 5 the school would only say that he was roughed up, and then she saw the video.
“I had no idea at all,” she said wiping away tears. Randall Kinney said they only got the video after fighting with the district for months. “They kept telling us we can’t see it because of privacy concerns with other kids,” he said. “I’m trying to keep my son from committing suicide. What’s going on here?”
Kinney’s son talked about killing himself after the incident, and the next day in class when other students asked if he had ratted out the popular teacher who was immediately put on leave and then suspended for 10 days without pay.
Acting superintendent Chuck Cuzzetto thinks that was enough. He doesn’t think the incident rose to the level of a fireable offense.
“We talked with the student himself,” he said. “We talked with the parents. We also looked at the teacher’s 18 year career. Based on all of that information, we made the decision to take some pretty significant discipline and retraining.”
Karla Kinney doesn’t think the teacher should ever be allowed back in a classroom. “I just don’t think that he realizes what he’s done,” she said.
The teacher is about to start classes next week in a new school in the district.
He did not return my calls.
He did write a letter to the district after this happened apologizing for allowing what he called “horseplay” to continue. He called it a learning experience.
