New York City School officials transferred a 10-year-old boy after his mother claimed he was bullied so badly that he talked about committing suicide.
Terrell Pryor will be moved to another school, hours after the Brooklyn boy joined his mother and community activist Tony Herbert outside his East New York school to call on the city Department of Education, NYPD and Brooklyn District Attorney's Office to investigate his claims of bullying.
"If it wasn't for my family, this wouldn't have been accomplished," the 10-year-old said.
The boy's mother, Mildred Pryor, said that her son came home from P.S. 13 last week with a bloody nose and bruised eye, products of bullies she said had been tormenting the 10-year-old for months. Things got so bad at one point, her son started talking about suicide.
"I just cried," she said. "I'm just scared and there's nothing I can do."
Herbert said at a rally Friday that Terrell Pryor's case is the latest instance of administrators dropping the ball at schools.
"We had a young lady throw herself in front of a train because of bullying," Herbert said. "We had a young sister in Coney Island pummeled and beaten to her death. Do we want this to happen to this young man? Hell no."
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The rally came a day after parents in Manhattan announced a class-action suit alleging the city DOE doesn't protect children from violence and bullying.
It also comes amid several reports of firearms and other weapons in schools. On Thursday, a teen was accused of threatening a classmate with a dagger, and earlier this week, a trio of students were accused of threatening a 13-year-old girl with a gun that was later found in a locker.
The city DOE says that it has a zero-tolerance policy for bullying, and Mayor de Blasio said in a statement after the class-action suit was announced on Thursday that "school safety is doing a very good job continuing a trend that started in the last administration and continues." The mayor also noted that major crime is down more than 14 percent at city schools in 2016, while other crimes are down more than 6 percent.
