<p>Education is important, I agree, but does anyone really think that the malefactors simply didn’t know what they did wasn’t OK? “Merciful heavens, I had no idea dumping a barrel of **** on a kid was wrong. Oops. My bad.”?</p>
<p>Exactly. This is evil, not ignorance. </p>
<p>I read it and wanted to cry. I’ve always like Drew Carey - good for him for helping out.</p>
<p>This article from ABC news states that police know who did it:</p>
<p><a href=“http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/lawyer-ohio-ice-bucket-challenge-pranksters-idd-25360858”>http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/lawyer-ohio-ice-bucket-challenge-pranksters-idd-25360858</a></p>
<p>“Pranksters”? This is battery, not a “prank.” The police have the event on video, and they know who did it. What are they waiting for? </p>
<p>Never mind. I know what they are waiting for. The bullies are “good kids.” They shouldn’t “have their lives ruined” just because they poured **** over a disabled kid. All in good fun, ha ha ha.</p>
<p>Well, I don’t give much credence to anything Jenny McCarthy says, but she tweeted (no, I don’t follow her Twitter account, but this was included as part of an update to the story) that the incident wouldn’t qualify as hate crime under current Ohio law, which doesn’t include disabilities. </p>
<p>(she and her husband, Mark Wahlberg also contributed $10,000 each toward the reward fund Drew Carey started)</p>
<p>This is an assault and the kids should be charged. </p>
<p>Disgusting…no wonder you cried PG.</p>
<p>Who is raising these kids???</p>
<p>(PG…don’t hate people…most/nearly all would never do such things)</p>
<p>This really breaks my heart… A side note… I’m with CF here. How could anyone call this a “prank”? A prank is something both sides can laugh about; this disgusting act lefts a disable child hurt and scared. I doubt he will get over it easily. </p>
<p>After watching the video of family about this incident I’m not so convinced that they are completely innocent/uninvolved. </p>
<p>First of all . . what parent/family of an autistic child isn’t diligently protective of them? Second . . . How could this family have agreed to let their autistic child participate in a prank without asking questions about the nature of the prank? </p>
<p>Bottom line is I’m not convinced this child was a victim of some unknown creeps . . . I think it was his own family that set it up. </p>
<p>I’m not sure what video this is. But just because a family is protective of a child doesn’t mean they will never come to any harm. And the family agreed to this and you think they set it up? Wow, if that is true and the family set this up, that is all sorts of awful. Even worse than some teenage creeps doing this. I can’t even fathom that.</p>
<p>This story just sickens me…what sickens me as much, if not more is that there are online venues to view this type of assault. That is something that needs to change , IMO</p>
<p>@Mondut
You think the family set their own child up for such abuse? Yikes. I sure hope not. </p>
<p>I certainly hope not! Who on earth could tell a bunch of bullies to pour a bucket of awful stuff over their child? </p>
<p>@mom2collegekids - maybe I was too strong in my suggestion that the family set it up . . . let’s just say I’m not entirely comfortable that we’ve got the whole story. </p>
<p>But regardless, like others I’m deeply offended that any child would be abused, bullied, harassed - especially a child with special needs. No excuses for that ever. </p>
<p>I don’t think the family was in any way involved. Here are a couple of local stories on it.</p>
<p><a href=“http://fox8.com/2014/09/03/mom-ice-bucket-challenge-turned-into-sick-joke-against-son-with-autism/”>http://fox8.com/2014/09/03/mom-ice-bucket-challenge-turned-into-sick-joke-against-son-with-autism/</a></p>
<p><a href=“http://fox8.com/2014/09/06/drew-carey-weighs-in-on-ice-bucket-challenge-prank-offers-to-donate-10k/”>http://fox8.com/2014/09/06/drew-carey-weighs-in-on-ice-bucket-challenge-prank-offers-to-donate-10k/</a></p>
<p><a href=“http://fox8.com/2014/09/08/police-identify-students-involved-in-attack-on-teen-with-autism/”>http://fox8.com/2014/09/08/police-identify-students-involved-in-attack-on-teen-with-autism/</a></p>
<p>Very sad indeed.</p>
<p>People who have not been bullied, and whose kids have not been bullied, often don’t realize how bad bullying can be. This is a particularly bad example of bullying, but it’s not the worst I’ve heard. Bullies sometimes beat up kids, and they trick naive autistic kids into all sorts of horrors, as happened in this case. To blame a disabled kid’s parents for his bullying is appalling. </p>
<p>We all somehow are unwilling to believe horrors unless we see them with our own eyes. To bring in an unrelated case, now we can see Ray Rice knock out his fiancee (now wife) on video. But we already had been able to see him dragging her unconscious body out of an elevator-- how did we THINK she got unconscious?</p>
<p>I think most of us would say,“I can’t conceive of doing something like that.” That makes it perfectly reasonable that we can’t really quite imagine the circumstances as bluntly or badly as they actually were. If you recall, the whole thing about what made Vietnam different is that now it was broadcast daily into people’s living rooms rather than at arms length. People have been horrible forever, and @pizzagirl, I agree with you that I go back and forth about which the default state is sometimes when there is a spate of horrifying news like this. People haven’t always filmed themselves being horrible and had the ability to broadcast it widely (or been filmed and broadcast by a 3rd party as in the Rice case). It is easier for most people to imagine some middle ground scenario where they were “scrapping back and forth” and Rice sort of shoved Jenay and she fell and hit her head because she was so drunk. I know that I didn’t imagine what it would look like to have a professional athlete just cold ■■■■ a woman like he was in a prize fight. I did’t imagine the devastation of Katrina until I saw Spike Lee’s documentary series and I can’t image this incident really because I haven’t seen it.</p>
<p>The rub is having that momentary revulsion and indignation move to a sustained call to action or change of heart and public policy. People have said that it is traumatizing to Rice’s wife to have that video of her abuse re-shown everywhere. I don’t disagree and I have mixed feelings about it for sure. I do feel, though, that in the broader conversation and “consciousness raising” about domestic violence and bullying it shakes people out of complacency to be confronted with the reality rather than the sanitized “gray area” version as presented by the perpetrator. </p>
<p>Ironic that Rice is an anti-bullying activist.</p>
<p>FWIW, someone mentioned “wouldn’t the parents be vigilant?” with a kid on the autism spectrum.</p>
<p>One of my children is in HS and on the spectrum, and he would walk to the library after school which is a block away. His friend walks about 10 blocks home by himself. Both kids have full-time aides at school, and have IEPs. Both would probably say “yes” to something like taking the Ice Bucket Challenge if someone asked them to. For both my son and his friend, all parents work so we cannot watch our kids 24/7. </p>
<p>(As for the Ray Rice thing, she spat in his face, no excuse for getting punched out, but domestic violence issues get quite complicated. I am familiar with cases where the person being beaten has never raised a hand or talked back once, and still ends up in the ER lying about how they got bruises and broken bones. Oh, and LOL about the four-letter word not showing up in the post - you can’t say ■■■■-a-doodle doo apparently…)</p>