Alleged 'Wedgie' Hazing Sends Boy To Hospital

local6 ^ | March 26, 2007

[stainlessbanner]

Two Georgia teenagers were recently arrested in connection with what one student's mother said was a high school hazing ritual, according to WJXT-TV.

The woman said members of the Charlton County High School golf team gave her son a contusion so painful she had to take her 13-year-old to the emergency room for treatment.

She said the prank has made her son afraid to go back to school.

The 13-year-old did not want to be identified, but his mother, Carol, agreed to talk about the incident because she said other parents should know what happened.

"Sometimes people don't know when enough is enough, and I think that's what happened here," said Carol.

Her son plays on the junior varsity golf team for the school. She said he was riding the bus with the varsity team when he became the victim of a sports initiation hazing ritual.

"He actually heard them saying, 'Who's it going to be?'" Carol said.

She said the boy was called to the back of the bus by two older high school students and that they picked him up by his boxer shorts and held him upside down. She said that's when the torment really began.

"It was so extreme it ripped his boxer shorts in two," Carol said.

It was a sports initiation that Carol said involved giving the younger players what's commonly called a wedgie.

Carol said the older boys also punched her son in the groin and stomach.

"He was bent over and couldn't hardly walk. He cried for probably 30 minutes," Carol said.

Charlton County police arrested two teens in connection with the alleged hazing incident and charged them with simple battery.

Carol said she doesn't think the teens meant to intentionally hurt her son but that they did. She said she wants other parents to be aware of the incident.

"It's not funny. It went beyond being a funny little prank," Carol said.

She said a coach was on the bus with the teams on the night the incident occurred.

The principal of the school had no comment on the incident but said the school has taken the appropriate action and has launched an investigation.

[Clintonfatigued]

Publicly schooled kids are far more likely to have hang-ups than homeschooled, for reasons that are obvious.

[dandelion]

I agree. I was bullied - and it didn't matter how much I fought back, there were some fights I just couldn't win. There, I said it. There are times, if you are the smallest, weakest person and there are 20 or more bigger people beating on you, you are NOT GOING TO WIN. And it WASN'T MY FAULT; but how many times did I hear some clueless adult ask me "why didn't you fight back?" I did fight back, I just couldn't win against the 20 bigger thugs beating the life out of me. Go figure.

Thank God some adult felt compelled to fight back with this boy - even if it IS his mom.

We should also remember that nowadays, if a bullied kid fights back, he may go to jail. Talk about blaming the victim...

[dandelion]

Oh yeah, and if someone every punches my son in the stomach and groin, I'm going to take after them with a nine-iron. I don't care what the "manly men" think - touch my child, and this mama will make you PAY...

I guess it's just the woman in me.

[wintertime]

The principal of the school had no comment on the incident but said the school has taken the appropriate action and has launched an investigation.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Translation: The school officials will everything possible to protect themselves.

1)Children should not be riding a school bus, filled with immature and impulsive children, with only a distracted bus driver to supervise them.

2) What would happen to a parent if this happened in their home? If the SS child welfare people would be knocking on a parent's door, then they should be knocking on the doors of the principals and teachers who allowed these unsupervised conditions.

Teachers and principals should be held to the **same** standards of safety and behavior as are the rest of the commoners.