Oklahoma bullies face felony charges for kicking autistic boy, posting video of it on YouTube

From KFOR-TV:

NORMAN, OK -- There are disturbing accusations of bullying in the Crescent school district. The mother of an autistic 12-year-old boy says three students beat her son, and even put it on YouTube.

Jacob's mother Marcia Jones says, "My son's afraid to go to school. He can't sleep at night."

A look at the YouTube video shows why Jones is now fearful of his classmates. It shows him in the center of the screen refusing to fight.

He even puts his hands in his pockets to show he will not participate.

His passive attitude is ignored and he's kicked in the stomach anyway.

The powerful kick knocks Jacob to the ground.

Marcia says, "It was very hurtful. My son's autistic. He didn't deserve that."

The kids who did the kicking also did the filming and uploaded their video to YouTube.

That's when Marcia and others like Crescent Police Chief Kalon Barnett saw it.

Barnett took it to the district attorney and told us, "We've decided this is a case of assault. It's not a practical joke that has gone bad and was never intended to be a joke."

The bullies were suspended from school and now face felony assault charges.

Barnett says, "We have got to send a message that bullying in school is not going to be tolerated."

Marcia thinks that message isn't getting through.

She says, "Twenty minutes after we got out of court, one of the young men involved posted something very hurtful on Facebook."

The post says things like "Wow, this is way out of hand" and "The kid wasn't hurt."

They are words Marcia says prove the bullying isn't stopped.

She says, "He's a very sweet young man and I don't think it was fair what was done to him. If I can manage to teach my 12-year-old autistic child not to fight at school, then why can't they teach their straight-A student not to fight at school? I want to know what these parents are going to do to these children."

Marcia also says the parents of kids who beat up her son are text messaging her, asking her to call the DA and request leniency for their kids.

The kids were suspended from school and the video has been taken off of YouTube.