LAUDERHILL, Fla. – A 12-year-old boy was taken away from Lauderhill Middle School in handcuffs Tuesday after police said he considered killing himself.
The family of the boy, who has special needs, said he had been teased, bullied and beaten so much by schoolmates that he talked about ending his own life.
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"Some kids started making fun of him and started picking on him," said the boy's aunt.
After months of the bullying, the child's aunt said, "it got to the point where he felt that he just wanted to kill himself."
The woman said her nephew did not attempt suicide, but by the mere threat, the Broward County School Board said a resource officer and a counselor were called in.
The family said the child was handcuffed and taken to a hospital for a mental evaluation.
But the family said that while the school intervened this time, it should not have progressed to this point.
"He'd go to the teacher. He's telling the teacher, telling the principal, and they're not doing anything about it. Now, he's sitting in the hospital, (wanting) to kill himself," said the boy's grandmother.
The Broward County School Board said there is no history of bullying at the school and that this is the first allegation of bullying at the school that was recorded in regards to the 12-year-old boy.
"He wrote a note saying, 'They keep making fun of me. They keep hitting me.' They throw spitballs at him," the child's aunt said.
"This here has got to be stopped," said the boy's grandmother.
The child's mother said he is still in the hospital, and she does not know when he will be released. She said he does not want to return to Lauderhill Middle School, and she plans to put him in private school.
Family members said they still want answers about why the boy was handcuffed and put into the back of a car for speaking up about being bullied.