A California father has taken a new route to address the issue of bullying of his school-going son. He has filed a restraining order against the alleged 9-year-old bully.
Stephen Feudner, whose son studies at the Rolling Hill Elementary School, Bay Area, said that the boy was harassing his soon for months and filing a restraining order was his last resort to tackle the issue.
According to Feudner, whose son is also 9, said that the boy assaulted his son on several occasions. The particular incident that made Feudner take this extreme step happened on March 13. He said his son was assaulted while trying to protect another student from the boy's assault.
"My son was protecting another little boy that was being bullied by the known school bully," Feudner told ABC News. "My son stepped in between them and then my son was pushed, my son pushed him back and subsequently after that the little boy came up and punched my son in the face."
Feudner said his son called him from the school's bathroom and told him about the assault. "He came up and pushed me, I pushed him back and he punched me in the face and he said 'Haha, you got punched,'" the boy said, reports FOX40. "He uses the n-word, b-word, the s-word many times."
The matter was escalated to the school officials who turned a deaf ear calling the incident an isolated one. They also said that the school needs to follow certain laws and rules.
Fuedner then sought legal help. Even the Solano County Sheriff's Department said that they had not heard of someone so young getting a restraining order.. Deputy Daryl Snedeker said that a parent knows what is best for his child. "Commonly for us, it's a domestic violence situation," Snedeker told CBS Sacramento."Obviously this is a little different. I guess as a parent, you have to do what you have to do," he added.
In order to serve the order, it is necessary for the Sheriff's Department to get the alleged bully's full name and address and it should be given within five days otherwise it would be considered null and void.
However, the Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District refused to provide the required details to the department. But Feudner hopes a judge can persuade the school district to give the details.
"Bullying is a serious issue and we understand that," school district Superintendent Kris Corey told ABC News. "We are a public school and are governed by a lot of laws and regulations," Corey said. "We just can't expel somebody and kick them out of school; there are certain laws we have to follow."
But Feudner said that he will get the complete information of the boy from the school somehow. "I'm glad I did it. Not only for my son, for the rest of the children," he said, reports CBS Sacramento.
