President Obama held a conference last week to address the growing problem of bullying in the U.S. but the Casey Heynes incident is sure to shine a spotlight on the problem. Australian student Casey Heynes has become an instant celebrity for fighting back after being harassed and struck in the face by his tormentor. The school Heynes attends is depicted as a rough school where fighting is prevalent and kids often post clips of fights online.
In theshort clip, a scrawny bully sucker punches the larger chunkier boy multiple times, as other kids look on, some taunting. Then suddenly, with great speed and agility the victim responds, flipping the kid and body-slamming him. Needless to say the bully lost his standing as school tough guy and Casey Haynes now has a Facebook page with 19,000 fans at last count, and a YouTube page. It’s obvious that Casey could have dispatched the bully at any time, but patiently put up with the bullying, being a capable, but peace loving individual.
Both boys received four-day suspensions for participating in the fight, something which a friend of Casey’s father takes exception to on Casey’s new YouTube page. It does raise the question, is it fair to punish the victim for fighting back?
"This 16 year old kid has been tormented every single day of his short high school life – and today he snapped!! He was suspended and may be looking at criminal charges, all because this little runt thought he could make an example of Casey in front of his "TUFF buddies!!"