by ALISON LEVIER Section Editor
Bailey O’Neill, a 12-year-old boy from Darby, Pennsylvania, was taken off of life support Sunday, March 3, after being placed in a medically induced coma due to severe trauma sustained from a bullying altercation.
O’Neill was allegedly forced into the fight, as much as he tried to avoid it. There was one boy who wanted to fight, and O’Neill was pushed (by another boy) into him. That child then struck him in the face, and O’Neill hit his head when he fell to the ground.
The fall to the ground caused a concussion, his parents would later find out. O’Neill was sent back to class with a simple ice pack while his classmates were suspended. Over a week later, after a few days of O’Neill complaining of pain and discomfort, he began to have seizures, something that had never happened before the incident.
Rob O’Neill, the boy’s father, says “He was a perfectly healthy boy before any of this. He was a healthy, funny, goofy boy. There was nothing wrong with him.”
O’Neill was then put in a medically induced coma.
This is currently an open investigation, and authorities are trying to figure out what really happened to O’Neill. Obviously, the boy was very badly injured and justice for the boy’s death seems to be in the near future.
Now, I do not really know what to think about this, since the only story the media is getting right now is from the boy’s father. I feel like there is more to the story than just this, or maybe I am wrong and it was truly just a case of outright bullying.
“I don’t really want to judge this based only on his father’s side. I feel like there is a lot more we do not know. Either way, it is so sad that he died. I feel awful for the family. It stinks when things like this happens because it is the type of thing that no one sees coming. It is just a freak accident coming out of a preventable thing, and it is so scary that things like this can happen so easily,” says sophomore Jordan Bussiere.
Whether or not these allegations are true, a boy is dead and that cannot be taken back. If this was just unprovoked bullying, this story is absolutely outrageous. It is horrifying that 12-year-olds nowadays have the power to kill their fellow classmates with just one fight.
“I cannot believe this happened. This is just crazy! I hope they release the rest of the story, though. I want to know the full thing, not just his dad’s account, even though I will believe the dad until someone says otherwise. It should be interesting to hear more than one side of the story,” says sophomore Liz Marchese.
Even though O’Neill falling and hitting his head was probably accidental, it still led to his ultimate death. My thoughts go out to his family, as I am sure they would have never guessed that something like this would ever happen.