Who’s the bully? : Police, school records raise questions about claims made by Fayetteville High student
Posted on Thursday, April 3, 2008
Dylan Gray smiles as he sits on the couch on a cool spring night and tells a story of a boy at school who likes to call him names, like stupid or retarded. The couch is a nice change from the wheelchair to which his muscular dystrophy normally confines him.
This same boy sneaks up behind Gray and screams in his ear, which is sensitive to noise because of his medical condition. As Gray relates the experience, this next-door neighbor once pounded him in the back of the head several times with a medium-sized rubber ball despite Gray's protest.
The story sounds familiar, perhaps as familiar as the one the national media brought out last week about Billy Wolfe, the Fayetteville High School sophomore who recently filed a lawsuit against a number of students he claims has bullied him. The only difference is that in Gray's story, Wolfe is the bully and Gray is the victim.
Gray is not the only student who has seen Wolfe as the aggressor instead of the victim. Police reports, student testimonies and parents who have had interaction with Wolfe reveal there may be more to the story than news media such as The New York Times or interviews on NBC's "Today"or CNN reported.
Wolfe repeatedly told local and national news sources that he has no clue why he has been picked on.
School discipline records included in police reports obtained through the Freedom of Information Act show that Wolfe had been in trouble at school and picked on other students.
Wolfe's mother, Penney, and his attorneys say that the student allegations against Billy are not true and many are based on hearsay. Even if these claims were true, it does not change the fact that students should not be allowed to assault Billy and go unpunished, they said.
"It's never OK to assault people," said Penney Wolfe, who appeared with her son on several news outlets to discuss the lawsuit.
The Wolfes also claim school officials did not do enough to protect Billy or punish the alleged bullies, nor did they call police to pursue criminal charges.
Two students, Ian Teeters and Benny Burk, said Wolfe is not an innocent victim. Both admitted to punching Wolfe, but said that it's the only time they have been in trouble for fighting at school. Teeters and Burk said they were suspended from school and interviewed by police as a result of the fights.
"The whole thing has been blown out of proportion," Teeters explained.
Teeters' mother, Marta Wolf, said, "(Wolfe ) is the victim, but he's far from innocent."
Allegations against Wolfe at one point were so serious that police investigated a report a year ago that Wolfe threatened to bring a gun to school. Officers took it to the point of asking his parents whether he had access to guns. No charges were filed, and Penney Wolfe denied that her son made this threat. Lawsuit filed, considered Penney Wolfe and her son filed a lawsuit March 6 in Washington County Circuit Court against Teeters and other unnamed students who may be identified later.
Teeters was shocked to be named in a lawsuit.
"I thought the whole thing was kind of ridiculous," he said.
In the lawsuit, the Wolfes allege that Billy has been repeatedly bullied and assaulted by students in and out of school. The lawsuit may not come to trial for up to three years, an attorney in the case said.
The Wolfes also allege that sometime in March 2007 students began attempting to solicit others to harm Wolfe using a Web page on the social networking site Facebook. com. Students set up a Facebook page titled "Every One Hates Billy Wolfe."
Bullying students online, known as cyberbullying, is a violation of school policy and state law.
Penney Wolfe said the group of students who set up and made comments on the Facebook page are the same group of students who have bullied her son for years. Westbrook Doss, the Wolfes' attorney, said his client is considering filing a lawsuit against the school district alleging that district officials failed to protect Wolfe. Fayetteville Superintendent Bobby New said the district has followed its policies and is ready to defend itself in court, if necessary.
Similar stories Teeters and Burk share similar stories about their run-ins with Wolfe. Both students say they lost their tempers during separate confrontations with Wolfe. Teeters, a ninth-grader at Woodland Junior High School, said he "never really planned"to hit Wolfe on March 9, 2007, when the 5-foot-10-inch student stepped between Wolfe and one of Teeters' friends who were arguing at school. Wolfe and Teeters had faced off, argued and "came close"to fighting before, but when Wolfe pushed him, Teeters said he lost his temper and landed a single punch that put Wolfe on the floor. He regrets it. "It was not planned. It just happened," he said. Teeters said he has seen Wolfe antagonize other students and verbally bully them, but he has not seen him start a fight. "(Wolfe ) could be obnoxious," Teeters said. "He would pick on people - mostly smaller kids. "Perhaps one of the more discussed Billy Wolfe incidents is his run-in with Benny Burk while the two were in a shop class in the eighth grade at Woodland Junior High. Wolfe said he was sitting in class working on a project when Burk walked over and suckerpunched him in the face. Burk's story is different. Now a 17-year-old with curly hair and a brace-filled smile, at Woodland, Burk was the new student. He was born and raised in Germany, where his dad, Stephen Burk, was stationed with the military. Making things more challenging was the fact that he had just lost his mother to a nine-year battle with cancer. On the day of the assault, Burk said, Wolfe came over and asked if he could join the group Burk was in. The group said no, for reasons Burk said he didn't know. A few minutes later, friends told Burk that Wolfe had called him a "gay [expletive ] German. " "I confronted him about it, and he admitted to saying it," Burk said. Burk went back to his class project and then friends told him Wolfe had called Burk's deceased mother a vulgar name. Because Wolfe had acknowledged saying the earlier comment, Burk said he had no reason to doubt what his friends said. Burk said he lost his temper and punched Wolfe in the cheek. Penney Wolfe said she received a call from the school nurse, who said her son had been in a fight and the nurse was unable to stop the bleeding. "When I got there he was spitting out blood," she said. Penney Wolfe said she asked Bryon Zeagler, then vice principal of Woodland, why he had not called the police. Stephen Burk said he did receive a call from the police that day, and that he and his son met with School Resource Officer Johnny Foster to discuss the situation. Burk said Foster told him that Penney Wolfe had the right to file charges. Fayetteville police Sgt. Shannon Gabbard said charges were never filed.
Stephen Burk said he paid Wolfe's initial medical bill, which amounted to somewhere around $ 125, and offered to pay for any followup visits but was told by the dental surgeon's office that there weren't any.
The retaliation against Wolfe in the shop class was the only time Burk said he did anything to Wolfe, but he pointed out that Wolfe was constantly in his face before the incident.
"He tried to pick fights with me," he said. "One time he told me to meet him at 3: 30 (p.m. ) to fight."
Burk said he never accepted any of Wolfe's invitations, but Wolfe persisted.
"He told me that one of his friends could crush my skull with one hand," Burk said. "I've seen him pick on people. He irritates people and throws things at them, just little things that would make people angry over a period of time."
Since the shop class incident Burk said he pretty much avoided Wolfe at all costs.
"I just don't want anything to do with him," he said.
A next door neighbor witnessed Wolfe bullying Gray.
Andrew Holtzen, a senior at Fayetteville High School and a neighbor to the Wolfes and the Grays, said he has seen Wolfe throwing dirt clods at Holtzen's house and windows.
Holtzen said that he doesn't advocate bullying, but he can understand someone reacting when Wolfe provokes them. "He's arrogant," Holtzen said. "He doesn't try to remove himself from a bad situation, but he does things to further escalate it."
A report by Officer Foster on March 14, 2007, stated that Ginny Wiseman, Fayetteville Public Schools assistant superintendent, contacted him about a report from a mother whose child told her that he overheard Wolfe say: "I have several scores to settle and I guess I'm gonna have to bring some gun to school. "The mother told Wiseman that her son said that Wolfe was a bully and had gotten into several fights that year.
According to the report, Foster talked directly with the student, who said that Wolfe had picked on him and his friends for a long time and that it was common for Wolfe to put his foot out and try to trip the student and his friends. He added that Wolfe had once picked up one of his friends by the throat and placed him against a locker.
When Foster went to the Wolfes' house to investigate the threat, he was told by Wolfe's parents he could not interview Wolfe without a lawyer present. Foster said that would not be necessary and that he was just making sure Wolfe did not have access to any weapons. Wolfe's parents said that he did not. Doss said the gun allegations could not have been that serious because police never charged Wolfe with any form of terroristic threatening. Penney Wolfe said she thinks if her son had really made threats about settling scores or bringing guns to school, he'd be in the Washington County Juvenile Detention Center right now.
Disciplinary records Police records included a disciplinary log by Zeagler involving Wolfe. The incidents at Woodland are summarized: • May 5, 2006 - Burk struck Wolfe in the face after Wolfe called Burk's (deceased ) mother a vulgar name. • Sept. 9, 2006 - Wolfe was talking back to a substitute teacher and not listening to the teacher. • Sept. 7, 2006 - Wolfe was given an assignment and directed to write a report about a certain issue. Wolfe gave the assignment back to the teacher and wrote "Ya right LOL (laugh out loud ) you write a three page report about dancing. " • Nov. 8, 2006 - Zeagler spoke to Wolfe regarding four complaints from teachers and students about him picking on students. • Dec. 19, 2006 - Special Education Teacher Becky Knight witnessed Wolfe pushing a student. Wolfe admitted wrongdoing and stated he would not do it anymore. • February 2007 - Special Education Teacher Terri Speer witnessed Wolfe scaring a disabled student in a wheelchair in the hallway. Speer also said another student told her that Wolfe stole his markers. He told Speer that he didn't want her to say anything to Wolfe because he was afraid of Wolfe. Penney Wolfe claims these records were turned over to Fayetteville police by Zeagler in an effort to discredit her son and to prevent the police from pursuing charges against a student who had assaulted her son.
School officials dispute that.
The report involving Wolfe's school records was created by a police officer who reviewed school records as part of his investigation into an incident, said Alan Wilbourn, public information officer for the school. Wilbourn said Zeagler was not allowed to comment on the case due to possible litigation.
The school district is restricted in releasing most school records because of the Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act, but the act allows law enforcement officers to access school discipline records as part of their investigations, Wilbourn said. Juvenile second chances Penney Wolfe is upset because some of the students who bullied and assaulted her son have not been prosecuted by the juvenile justice system. A local prosecutor said it is common for children to get a second chance when they get in trouble.
Juvenile justice is a rehabilitative system, not a punitive system, said Keri Spencer, 4 th Judicial District juvenile prosecutor.
Juveniles are often allowed a second chance under a program called "diversion, " Spencer said. The diversion program allows first-time misdemeanor offenders a way to avoid prosecution and a criminal history if they sign a contract to follow certain rules, make amends and stay out of trouble.
A typical diversion may include attending school, avoiding a victim, writing an apology, making restitution, following parents'rules, honoring a curfew and maybe writing an essay, she said.
Diversion is different from probation because the children do not have criminal histories if they successfully complete the program.
"It's as if the arrest never happened," Spencer said.
Students who get into fights at school usually get a diversion if they qualify. Fights that do not involve weapons are considered nonviolent offenses, Spencer said.
Juvenile prosecutors typically decide whether to press criminal charges based on the investigating police officer's incident report, she said. Charges are generally not pursued when a fight involves a "mutual combat situation," she said.
Juvenile records are not public records and prosecutors cannot discuss specifics of cases.
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