Student living with autism attacked in school bathroom

GRAHAM, Wash. — A horrific attack has left a Graham-Kaposwin student beaten and bruised after he was punched repeatedly in the men’s bathroom as classmates watched on and record the entire thing.

Nell Vance has identified the victim as her son Landon so families can see what happened to the 15-year-old.

She says Landon is living with autism and that he had no idea what was going on.

“Absolutely defenseless and obviously clueless to what’s going on and just hearing the sound of him crying and knowing this happened to him and I couldn’t do anything to stop it,” says Vance.

Landon now has a chipped tooth and welts in the back of his head. His mother says when the school called her and told her he had been attacked and they were planning to suspend him.

She says they reversed that decision after she showed administrators the video.

She says they left a voicemail on her phone Tuesday morning saying he didn’t do anything wrong so he can return to school.

“But I’m keeping him home until I feel like it’s safe for him to go back to school,” adds Vance.

The district denied KIRO 7′s request for an interview saying in part, “We want our families and students to know that any incident that threatens students’ health or safety is taken very seriously.”

The Pierce County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the case and they say as of now the attacker could be charged with a misdemeanor assault.

As for Landen, his mother hopes he can get back to the things he loves like playing the drums and guitar and going back to class when she believes it’s safe.

“I don’t want there to be other Landon’s and other mothers that have to watch and endure a video of seeing their child be bullied and beat down in the bathroom,” says Vance.

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