Police have finally charged the teenagers who pulled the fake ALS Ice Bucket Challenge on an autistic classmate. Cuyahoga County prosecutors in Ohio filed complaints on Tuesday against five teens, aged 14 to 16, who will face the juvenile equivalent of disorderly conduct charges, with three also facing misdemeanor assault charges.
According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, all the teens accused of dumping a mix of urine, tobacco, spit and water on a 15-year-old classmate are part of a crew of friends who often pull “sophomoric” and “distasteful” pranks.
“However, this incident is clearly different. It crossed a moral and legal line, and even the five alleged perpetrators understand that and have expressed regret,” said Assistant County Prosecutor Duane Deskins. The family of the special needs student who was humiliated in the August 18 incident was consulted on the charges, which Deskins said strike a balance between punishment and rehabilitation.
The case got national attention and elicited a $10,000 bounty from Cleveland native and comedian Drew Carey, who offered the reward to a fund run by the Bay Village police department. It also spawned an online petition that got more than 306,000 signatures urging Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy J. McGinty to prosecute the students. The targeted student’s parents reported the incident on September 3 after a video was uploaded to YouTube showing their son standing in front of a garage while being doused with the putrid contents of the bucket.
A lawyer for one of the students said last month that the group of friends had been playing pranks on each other all summer and that his client was not aware the victim was autistic.
If you’d like to donate in support of the bullied teen, go to the Youcaring link.
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