*Warning: graphic images*
PORTLAND, Oregon—A 10-year-old boy has been left with stitches and staples in his head after a neighborhood bully slammed him to the ground, he said.
Drake Camara said he’s had run-ins with the teenage bully before, but never like this.
“He picked me up by the chest and then he shoved me into the ground, hoping for a car to hit me,” Camara said. “I couldn’t see anything because blood was all over my eyes, and chest, hands, mostly my whole body.”
“He told his little brothers to run right before the kid grabbed him,” said Drake’s mother, Melissa Camara.
Melissa said Drake and his two little brothers were walking home from school on April 24 in southeast Portland when the bully started following them.
“The brutality of it is shocking, he picked him up by the chest and had his feet up in the air and jammed him down, head first in the street … right in front of an oncoming car,” Melissa said.
Drake said the attack happened right by Harrison Park School; he said the boy started picking on his little brothers.
“He started cussing at my little brother. If you need to, protect your younger siblings,” Drake said.
Drake said his little brother Quinn helped him up. Together, the three brothers ran home.
“The kids were all three screaming and crying. Three of them were convinced Drake was going to die,” Melissa said.
The family said they called 911 and Portland police.
“He had rocks and dirt in his scalp. The opening was about this big on his scalp…and tore all the way down through the protective lining of his scalp. He got 12 stitches and four staples,” Melissa said.
Now, the mother and her three boys are trying to heal and send a message.
“Bullying is never okay, picking on kids so much smaller is never okay,” Melissa said.
The alleged attack has been reported to Portland police, but at this point officers could not give any further details.
Neighbors and friends have started a GoFundMe page to help out with Drake’s medical expenses.
“He is a sweet boy who is the victim of a brutal assault and bullying. Over the past few days, I’ve been watching his family struggle with the emotional, physical, and financial results of this attack. This 10-year-old hero stood between his younger brothers and three teenagers,” a family member wrote on the GoFundMe page.
Bullying Statistics in the United States
According to Stop Bullying, a government group, 28 percent of students in the United States have experienced bullying while 70 percent of youth have seen bullying at school.
Some 30 percent of respondents admitted to bullying in surveys, the group said. In one study, about 49 percent of students in grades 4 through 12 reported being bullied by other students at school at least once during the previous month.
“The most common types of bullying are verbal and social. Physical bullying happens less often. Cyberbullying happens the least frequently,” the group stated.
“Most bullying takes place in school, outside on school grounds, and on the school bus. Bullying also happens wherever kids gather in the community. And of course, cyberbullying occurs on cell phones and online.”
