A video of schoolchildren bullying and tormenting a 68-year-old school bus monitor has caused outrage in the US.
The footage, which went viral on the internet, prompted an outpouring of sympathy and fund-raising for the victim, with almost half a million dollars being raised.
The ten-minute video of Karen Klein being verbally abused by children aged 13 as she accompanied them to school was posted on the internet on Monday.
The children can be heard taunting the pensioner about her weight and her income and at one point discuss stabbing her.
The clip, which was filmed in the town of Greece, in upstate New York, prompted widespread revulsion. Related Articles
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One viewer set up an online fund titled “Let’s give Karen Klein a vacation” and urges people to donate money to send the grandmother on a holiday of a lifetime.
The initial goal was to raise $5,000. As of Friday, more than $470,000 (£300,000) had been raised.
The four children at the forefront of the abuse received death threats after the video was posted online, the local police confirmed.
Captain Steve Chatterton said: “Their families have been threatened – their brothers and sisters have been threatened. We have custody of one of their cell phones and it has over 1000 missed calls and over 1000 text messages threatening him.”
Two of the boys, Wesley Helm and Joshua Slesak, issued apologies. A third boy, Luis Recio, also apologised. The fourth boy, Brandon Teng, has so far made no comment.
Mrs Klein, who has worked as a school bus monitor in Greece for 23 years, said she did not want to press criminal charges against any of the boys.
Asked during an interview on CNN what she wanted to happen to them, she said: “I want them to make sure that they never do this again to anybody.
“I would like them to be at least kept off the bus for a year and be forbidden to play any sports at least for a year. Somebody mentioned community service and I thought that was a pretty good idea too.”
Mrs Klein said that deep down the children were “not bad kids” and suggested they were trying to impress one another.
Asked how she felt during the abuse, she said: “I was trying to get it out of my mind I was trying to make it go away. I was looking out the window. I didn’t hear everything that they said I would probably be a lot more upset if I did.”
On the subject of the money raised for her, she said: “I still can’t believe that there is that much. It is a nice gesture but I just don’t know if it is for real or not. It sounds too good to be true.”
After the abuse went viral, one of the boys, Josh, issued a statement. He said: “I am so sorry for the way I treated you. When I saw the video I was disgusted and could not believe I did that. I am sorry for being so mean and I will never treat anyone this way again.”
Wesley also apologised, saying: “I feel really bad about what I did. I wish I had never done those things. If that had happened to someone in my family, like my mother or grandmother, I would be really mad at the people who did that to them.”
Greece Middle School said the boys would be disciplined to the “fullest extent possible”.
Poster Comment:
Little tykes just getting even with her for bugging them to behave, quiet down, etc.