A Valley mom says her 10-year-old son is being bullied at school and school officials are allegedly punishing him after a video of a schoolyard fight surfaced.
Breanna Thornton said her son goes to Cheatham Elementary in Laveen and the bullying started at the end of last school year. Thornton explained that a fight broke out on Monday and it's the second time her son was assaulted while on campus.
"It hurts; It hurts. Nobody wants their child to be attacked where they can't defend themselves," said Thornton.
The video shows her son, Jayden, and another boy facing off. The boy pushes Jayden, who gives a small effort to push back before backpedaling.
The other boy tackles Jayden to the ground and hits him several times in the head while sitting on him.
Thornton said this video is just the latest in a string of bullying the school has known about with the same kid picking on her son.
"The boy would threaten my son that if he didn't bring bags of chips to school for him he would beat him up," said Thornton. "He was attacked the first time in May."
But when she showed this recent video to administration at Cheatham Elementary, the school suspended her son three days for fighting.
"He loves school. He's not a fighter at all," she said.
The Laveen Elementary School District told us they looked at the video combined with school surveillance and decided both kids participated equally. Both were indeed disciplined according to a school spokesperson.
ABC15 also asked about Thornton's claim of ongoing bullying and the district said they have ways of handling that but couldn't get into specifics.
"They could take steps to make sure my son is safe," Thornton said. "This boy is not supposed to be in the same area as my son. They go different directions after school. He is supposed to take the bus, my son walks home."
And yet the kid who made the honor roll and won the5th-gradee spelling bee is now afraid to go back.
"He's very smart, so the fact that he's scared to go back to school… it tells me this is serious," she said.
If you or a loved one encounters bullying, there are resources available.
