Bailey O’Neill, a 6th grade student at Darby Township School in the Southeast Delco School District in Pennsylvania died today, Sunday, March 4, 2013 from bullying. The cause of death was complications from a concussion after being bullied.
He was jumped by two classmates during recess in January 2013 where he was beaten in the face so badly his nose was fractured and he received a concussion. Radiopatriot reveals, one of the boys who committed the beating was suspended from school for two days. There is no report on the other student.
He was taken to Alfred I. du Pont Hospital for Children for treatment. He continued to regress, suffering from violent seizures and no interest in eating according to Radiopatriot. He was put in a medical coma. NBC News reveals that Bailey contracted pneumonia and had to receive a blood transfusion as a result of the beating by the school bullies.
The movie Bully was released in the United States one year ago in March 2013. According to the Bully Project: 1 Million Bully Kids, 250, 747 kids have seen the movie. This movement’s goal is to bring the movie to 1 million young people and their educators across the United States and Canada in order to promote school climate, bring about caring and inclusive communities with respect for all.
The movie, Bully has received critical acclaim worldwide, received the Stanley Kramer award and the reviewer aggregator, Rotten Apples have given it a generally favorable review. Despite these good reports JapanToday reported 144,054 cases of bullying at schools between April and September 2012. Also, according to Dosomething.org each month in the United States 282,000 students report being attacked in high schools throughout the nation.
In helping to prevent bullying Bailey’s father warns parents to keep an eye out for bullying and to look for warning signs. According to Radiopatriot, Mr. ONeill suggests that some children may be reluctant to discuss being bulled. Some warning signs to bully prevention according to stopbullying.gov include: change in appetite, lost or destroyed personal items, unexplainable injuries and frequent headaches or complaints of illness. Bailey’s birthday was on Saturday when he turned 12-years-old. The next day, Sunday, he died.
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