Watch: Video Shows LGBTQ Florida 6th Grader Viciously Assaulted
A May 21 video shows an LGBTQ Florida sixth grade student grabbed from behind and then slammed to the ground in a sudden assault. The student said the incident was the culmination of bullying they've experienced throughout the school year.
The 13-year-old student, Chad Sanford, attended Deerfield Beach Middle School in Broward County. Sanford told news channel WPLG Local 10 that the attack was the culmination of bullying that's been transpiring throughout the school year.
Sanford called their sixth grade year "horrible," calling it "a living hell." Describing the attack that was caught on video, Sanford said the assailant "just stepped on my face, they were kicking and spitting on me," all while they screamed, "'We got that gay fa***t.'"
The assault came after an earlier episode of harassment when the alleged attacker announced his intention to do Sanford physical harm. Sanford described how the older student — an eighth grader — told a room of students, "'I'm going to knock the gay out of him.'"
NBC News reported on the story, recounting that Sanford had been "walking down the hallway of Deerfield Beach Middle School at the end of the school day when an older student started following" them.
The NBC story — which referred to Sanford using female pronouns — said that the video was taken by another student and shows Sanford surrounded by other students before "being picked up by a student and thrown to the ground in her school's hallway as others appear to watch the scene unfold.
"The video appeared to show students surrounding Sanford as she was on the ground in a fetal position," the outlet added.
Sanford was quoted as saying, "I was scared for my life."
The sixth grader had also become suicidal as the school year wore on, according to their aunt, Raquel Showers, who told WPLG, "He wanted to kill himself because they keep bullying him." Showers told the media that Sanford had been experiencing headaches in the aftermath of the attack.
NBC News said the bullying had been going on since January, but Local 10 said that it began last August.
Broward County Public Schools issued a statement on the assault, saying, "School safety is our highest priority. The school's leadership is taking this incident seriously and is working with law enforcement in its investigation."
But Sanford said that nothing ever happened as the bullying continued at school. "They didn't do anything," NBC quoted them as saying. "I wish they, or anyone, did something."
WPLG said that Sanford's grandmother, who is also their legal guardian, has taken Sanford out of Deerfield Beach Middle School.
Watch the WPLG news clip below: