8-YO Boy Hospitalized After Being Injured With Pencil In Alleged Bullying Incident | 'Was Completely Preventable'

Trigger Warning: This article contains graphic details of injuries that may be distressing to readers.

An eight-year-old boy from California had to be hospitalized after being injured at school. While the school district called it an "unfortunate accident," Carter Flores' mother believes it was a bullying incident. According to a GoFundMe set up for the second-grader, "Carter got up to look at the whiteboard & the bully placed a pencil standing up, which Carter kneeled directly onto. The pencil penetrated to the knee bone—fracturing it & leaving a bacterial infection under the muscle."

The young boy suffered a Strep A infection and has had multiple surgeries according to the fundraiser. Apart from several surgeries, fluid had to be drained from the child's knee. 

"Carter’s Mom is self-employed and is spending all of her time at the hospital with him, canceling her business appointments. The doctors expect Carter to be in hospital for at least 2 weeks and he will need 4-6 weeks of home health services after being released. Please help the Flores family with the anticipated medical bills. Carter is a sweet 8-year-old boy who loves baseball. Prayers are welcomed," the fundraiser added.

"The way we found out that Carter was very sick was because he was very lethargic," his mother Madeline Flores told KABC of her son's infection. "He spiked over 103 fever and he started throwing up."

The family's lawyer Michael Jeandron told the outlet, "We're taking a look at all the facts trying to figure out exactly who did what and when." The attorney said that the family claims Carter's teacher knew about him being bullied and allegedly said she would "keep the boys separated in class at all times."

"The problem was they didn't implement their own plan and they allowed Carter to be stabbed with a pencil by another student and now Carter is struggling to recover; to fight for his health and get better." According to Fox 11, the young boy's injuries were so severe that doctors told the family he may have had to get his leg amputated if they had brought him to the hospital 12 hours later. 

A statement from Corona-Norco Unified School District and School Site Administrators said that they "are aware and have completed an investigation of the incident of alleged bullying of a second-grade student at Corona Ranch Elementary where a student was injured on campus last week by falling onto a pencil. After a thorough investigation of the students involved and several witnesses, it was determined to be an unfortunate accident. After the incident, the student was taken to the nurse’s office where his wound was cleaned, bandaged, and iced. We are saddened to hear the student’s injury is worse than originally thought, and we wish him a speedy recovery. In CNUSD, we take all allegations of bullying seriously and they are fully investigated, as we believe school should be a safe place for every student to learn and grow."

The young boy's mother responded, "To me, an accident is something that wasn't able to be prevented and this was completely preventable. And, you know, I'm going to choose to trust that my son would never lie to me with something like this. I mean, given the position that he's in, you know, he just wants to make sure it doesn't happen to his friends."

As per recent updates on the fundraiser, Carter's mom said that he is fighting it and bouncing back. "This kid is as tough as nails and one hell of a fighter," she wrote. When he left the hospital after his surgeries, he told everyone, "no one keeps me down!"

References:

https://abc7.com/corona-student-boy-stabbed/11913471/

https://www.foxla.com/news/california-boy-wanting-to-be-friends-with-everybody-bullied

https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-carters-recovery

https://p18cdn4static.sharpschool.com/UserFiles/Servers/Server_211876/File/Our%20Departments/Communications/Press%20Releases/5.31%20Media%20Statement.pdf

Cover Image Source: GoFundMe