Beaten up Abbotsford student asks why police weren't called

[oneh2obabe]

A Grade 12 student in Abbotsford wants to know why school officials didn't call the police after he was beaten up in a school locker room on Friday.

Wyatt DuBois says after gym class last week at Rick Hansen High School, he overheard a group of people bullying of one of his friends in the locker room.

He says he stood up to one of the boys, and that's when the teen came over and allegedly started to beat him with a retractable baton.

"He told me he wanted to fight," DuBois told CBC News, describing in detail how he was allegedly hit and kicked half a dozen times.The beating left him bleeding profusely.

Dubois said the attack happened with more than 60 other students watching.

"Everyone watched when I said, 'You need a weapon to approach me.' He got mad and choked me. After he hit me over the head a second time, I was bleeding. I remember getting up and slipping in my own blood."

Dubois said the fight then moved into the school hallway, and that's when teachers grabbed him and ushered him into a gym office.

Dubois says he asked the school to call the police, but only an ambulance was called.

"I told them I wanted the police to be called. I told them I wanted charges and police were never called."

It was only after a B.C.ambulance arrived that paramedics called Abbotsford Police.

"Honestly that really discourages me about the school," Dubois said.

"I thought it was supposed to be a safe place. You're supposed to go and not feel like you have to worry about anything, but I don't want to go back there. I don't feel safe there anymore."

Dubois ended up getting seven stitches and six staples.


Dave Stephen, spokesman with the Abbotsford School District, says the police liaison office was called once administrators were able to sort out what had happened, adding that the two boys believed to be behind the attack will be suspended.


Wyatt's parents, Sonya and Richard Dubois, said they think the attacker should be suspended indefinitely. They're also upset that police were not called immediately.

"This was a major crime with a weapon," Sonya said. "What type of situation has to happen to say maybe we need the police?"

"He was assaulted," Richard said. "At what point should the police be called? Does he have to die, or something?"

Abbotsford Police say they are conducting a full investigation into the incident, adding that the alleged attacker has been arrested and will be facing charges of assault and possession of a prohibited weapon.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-c ... -1.2053620

[Fancy]

The school was waiting to conduct their own investigation before calling police? Is that their job?

[grammafreddy]

CYA ?

[Bsuds]

The school was waiting to conduct their own investigation before calling police? Is that their job?

No, their job it to protect the children under their care. If there is an assault they should call the Police immediately and they will determine and arrests and charges.

[Fancy]

I would hope the school administrators are given a lesson on how to act appropriately in an emergency.

[omisimaw]

and there is a question as to why this whole "bullying" in the school system is out of control LOL
Kids know they are going to get off with a pat on the back almost!
Now, now John/Jane, you really should not behave that way..... RIGHT
Bring back juvie for these sick out of control "children" who have been raised by persons with zero parenting skills

[Captain Awesome]

Not many people know that retractable baton is considered a prohibited weapon. School officials didn't know either I guess.

[Bsuds]

I would hope the school administrators are given a lesson on how to act appropriately in an emergency.

Is it not their job to know this before an emergency happens?

[Bsuds]

Not many people know that retractable baton is considered a prohibited weapon. School officials didn't know either I guess.

That was my first thought too.

[Fancy]

Is it not their job to know this before an emergency happens?

I would have thought so but considering the officials don't know what some weapons are (would they think brass knuckles are a new type of jewellery?) I can see why some kids will be nervous going to school. They are not protected and bullying is not controlled.

[omisimaw]

They are not protected and bullying is not controlled.

and not enough people are screaming about it...

and it starts early!!!! They are not even trying to nip it in the bud and when it gets to the middle/high levels, well....

[FreeRights]

Not many people know that retractable baton is considered a prohibited weapon. School officials didn't know either I guess.

As far as I'm aware, a retractable baton is not a prohibited weapon in Canada. The only section of the Criminal Code that I recall that addresses this is concealment of said weapon.

[Captain Awesome]

As far as I'm aware, a retractable baton is not a prohibited weapon in Canada.

Hmmmm...

Where's KL3-Smth when you need him...

[omisimaw]

Ban extendable steel batons: Police
One such beating left 20-year-old with brain injury
Ethan Baron, The Province
Published: Thursday, December 30, 2010

While a young man brain-injured by an extendable steel baton slowly recovers, police are expressing concern in the wake of several baton attacks that the weapons remain legal to sell and carry.

Joseph Kelso, 20, was playing video games with friends in his parents' Squamish reserve basement earlier this month when he asked two rowdy uninvited teens to leave. They took him outside and one broke his skull with an extendable baton, causing bleeding from his brain.

Kelso underwent surgery and has been out of hospital for a week-and-a-half. He can walk with a cane, said his father, Daniel Kelso, 49.

"He's really weak still. He gets really dizzy if he stands up too quick," Kelso said.

"He's staying with one of his brothers -- we have too many stairs. He's not strong enough to be walking up and down stairs."

His son has no memory of the attack, Kelso said. "He sees himself in the mirror, but he really has no clue who did it to him, what happened, why it happened."

In October, a Vancouver boy had fingers broken by an extendable baton when players he'd defeated in an online video game tracked him down at Eric Hamber Secondary School.

North Vancouver RCMP Cpl. Peter DeVries would like to see the batons banned under the federal Criminal Code.

"I see no reason that extendable batons should not be prohibited, should not be illegal," DeVries said.

"They serve only one purpose and that is to be used as a weapon. We see attacks not infrequently using batons. We seize them not infrequently from people on the street [or] in their cars."

Abbotsford police have recorded two incidents in the past two months in which the weapons were allegedly used, with one injured victim in a "home-invasion-drug-deal-gone-bad" situation telling police his bruises and contusions had come from an extendable baton, said Const. Ian MacDonald.

The weapons, which have a steel ball on the end to concentrate impact, are made up of segments that collapse into a handle. Only batons that use a spring to extend, or are flexible and function in a whiplike fashion, are illegal in Canada. The legal batons are extended by a flick of the wrist.

"We do see expandable batons carried quite frequently by people involved in the drug trade as either a defensive or as an offensive weapon," said B.C. RCMP spokesman Insp. Tim Shields.

"And when we catch them with that type of a weapon, there's nothing we can do unless they actually used it to commit an offence. Parliament so far has deemed [they] should not be prohibited."

Thomas Ronald Baker, 18, and a 17-year-old youth have been charged with assault with a weapon and assault causing bodily harm in connection with the attack on Kelso.

[Donald G]

Anything can be identified in criminal court as an offensive weapon providing it is USED as a weapon ... including a willow branch. a car, a chair, a plastic spoon and/or a lawn mower. The key is that it is USED as a weapon to inflict or try to inflict harm on another person. It would be impossible to have all such articles listed as prohibited weapons since it is the manner in which it is used rather than the article itself that determines how the article is viewed by the court.