A Florida woman says her teenage son was beaten up on the school bus for wearing a ‘Trump 2020’ hat, but school officials say that wasn’t the cause. As Yahoo News reports, the mom posted about the incident last week on social media, and the incident purportedly happened weeks ago.
Twitter user @AmericanDiaries claimed in a series of tweets described by Yahoo News as “racially-charged,” that her 14-year-old son Tyler had proudly worn his Trump 2020 hat to school weeks prior to the incident, but that he put it away because of bullying.
“From that point on he was steadily getting messed with. He was getting hit, tripped & verbally abused on the bus,” she said.
On November 21 she said things “came to a head” when a group of eight kids jumped her son and physically assaulted him because of the hat. However, she later changed her statement to say that it was five kids, not eight.
“Plain and simple this was a hate crime and attempted murder according to the state of Florida since it was over three kids that jumped him and these kids are older and larger. Thankfully my son got into the fetal position and held his hands over his head he’s got defensive wounds,” she wrote.
You can see video of the alleged incident below, but be warned: it is graphic and may be disturbing to some viewers.
But school officials claim that it was a verbal altercation that prompted to fight, and not anything to do with Donald Trump. Still, Superintendent Rex Mitchell said that fisticuffs are unacceptable.
“We absolutely do not condone the use of physical force between students. This was an unfortunate incident that we take very seriously as the safety and welfare of the students is always our top priority,” he said.
The Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office conducted its own investigation and announced that the incident did not rise to the level of a hate crime under Florida law. The five alleged assailants have, however, been charged with first-degree misdemeanor battery.
The mother says that the family has hired an attorney, although it remains unclear whether they intend to sue.
This is not the first time a person has claimed they were assaulted for wearing Trump-related clothing in public. Just last month, as reported at the time by The Inquisitr , a Florida man wearing a Donald Trump costume was purportedly assaulted by a teenage girl while waiting in line at a fair attraction.
