A viral video of an Indian-American student in Texas being choked by another student has sparked outrage after the Indian-American received a harsher punishment for the incident.
The incident occurred at Coppell Middle School in the Dallas area last week. The disturbing video shows a white student choking Indian-American student Shaan Pritmani and demanding he give up his seat at a table.
When Pritmani refused, the white student choked him even harder and dragged him away from the table as other students cheered. See video of the incident below. Be warned that some may find it disturbing.
In the wake of the incident, the school informed Pritmani's parents that he was found at fault for the incident and would receive a three-day in-school suspension as punishment, while the student who choked him received just one.
When Pritmani's parents submitted the viral video of the assault they were told by school officials that no amendments to the punishment would be made.
The school also allegedly demanded that a School Resource Officer not document the incident because the school has had so many bullying complaints. The Coppell Police Department also refused Pritmani's parents' request for a formal complaint.
In a statement, Coppell School Superintendent Dr. Brad Hunt said:
"Bullying, both verbal and physical, as well as physical acts of aggression are never acceptable and do not align with who we are at CISD and our core values."
But the statement was woefully inadequate for Pritmani's parents, who filed a Change.org petition that has received more than 360,000 signatures.
In it, they demand that Pritmani's aggressor be expelled and say their son feels unsafe at Coppell. It reads:
"Due to lack of support from the Coppell ISD and Coppell PD to correctly handle this assault, we are demanding that the aggressor be removed from my son's school immediately."
"Shaan should never have to take a class, interact, or pass the hallways with this aggressor ever again."
Many on Twitter agreed, and found the incident egregious and shocking.
Pritmani's parents are said to have sought legal representation while they await the results of the school's internal investigation.
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