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Nebraska Bullies Stole A Deaf Student’s Backpack And Emptied Its Contents, Including Hearing Aid, Into School Toilet

By Aaron Homer
Published on: 07:47 PST, Sep 6, 2016

High school bullies in Nebraska stole a deaf student’s backpack and emptied its contents, including the cochlear implant he uses to hear, into a school toilet. If that wasn’t outrageous enough, the bullies then shared photos of the stolen backpack in the toilet on social media.

As KMTV (Omaha) reports, Alex Hernandez, who is deaf, said that on August 31, he was at lunch when he noticed his backpack was missing. That backpack contained his tablet, school supplies, his debit card, and his homework. More importantly, it contained his cochlear implant, which was the device he used to hear, and which could cost upwards of $40,000, according to the American Speech Language Hearing Association.

A cochlear implant could cost tens of thousands of dollars. [Image via Shutterstock/Elsa Hoffmann]
Fortunately, Alex’ cochlear implant survived the incident unscathed, but the rest of his belongings did not.

He went to school administrators for help, and after a search failed to turn up his backpack, they reviewed security camera footage. It was then that officials saw two juveniles, whom Hernandez says he doesn’t know, leaving the cafeteria with his backpack.

The backpack was found a short time later in a school toilet with Alex’ belongings emptied into the water.

If stealing a deaf student’s belongings, including an expensive hearing aid, weren’t mean enough, the bullies then took a picture of the stolen backpack in the toilet and began sharing it on social media as if it was the funniest thing that had ever happened.

School officials say they have identified the two bullies, who claimed they didn’t know that Alex is deaf. One of the students has been suspended, while the other is still being investigated, according to KTLA (Los Angeles).

That’s not good enough for Alex’ mother, and she intends to bring the law into the matter.

“It’s not fair that the bullies think they can continue with this behavior. They need to be reminded that there are consequences to stealing and bullying.”

Alex, who has been deaf since he was one year old, said he had been bullied before about his disability. But this particular incident is the worst he’s ever experienced, and he wants to transfer to a different school.

“This just got out of hand. There’s too much bullying, too much drama, too much fighting, it’s just not nice,”

Alex was most upset about having lost his English homework. He said that he had worked really hard on the assignment and wanted his mom to be proud of him.

And as for the bullies, Alex says he holds no ill well for them. He just wants them to understand how they’ve hurt him.

“I just want to talk to them; I don’t want to fight them. I want to talk it out. And talk to their parents about them so they can tell them they need to teach them the right thing to do.”

In a statement, Omaha Public Schools acknowledged being aware of the bullying and promised that the situation is being handled.

“We are aware of the situation that occurred at Burke earlier this week. We take these kind of situations very seriously. The situation was an isolated incident.”

Hernandez’ friends and loved ones, meanwhile, are rallying around their friend. His sister set up a GoFundMe page to raise $800 to replace his damaged school supplies. The page was closed just hours later after the money was raised.

What punishment do you think the bullies who dumped a deaf student’s belongings into a toilet deserve?

[Image via Shutterstock/Suzanne Tucker]

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