Three schoolboys dressed in Ku Klux Klan robes for Halloween , then tased a younger black classmate, it is claimed, in an incident now b...
Three schoolboys dressed in Ku Klux Klan robes for Halloween, then tased a younger black classmate, it is claimed, in an incident now being labeled a hate crime.
The victim and his alleged bullies all attend Woodsboro High School in Texas, with the incident sparking a criminal investigation.
Refugio County Sheriff's deputies were called to Woodsboro, eight miles away from the school, after being notified that a teen was shocked by a 'Taser or cattle-prod-like' device, said Sheriff Raul 'Pinky' Gonzales.
The Woodsboro Police Department is leading the ongoing investigation. DailyMail.com has contacted the department for further information.
As of Wednesday, there have been no arrests and no criminal charges filed in regard to the incident, according to Assistant District Attorney Tim Poynter, an attorney in Refugio County.
In a Facebook post shared on November 9th, Woodsboro Superintendent Ronald D. Segers Jr said the incident did not happen on the school's campus or during some school-related activity. As a result, the school district isn't legally allowed to punish the students, who recently played for the school's football team competitively.
Poynter also said that Texas Rangers assisted Woodsboro police in order to ensure a 'thorough and fair' investigation. He declined to provide a precise date on when they were notified.
'We take this very seriously,' he said. 'The Texas Rangers do a great job, and they are the right people to help us with this.'
A November 9th Facebook post written and shared by Woodsboro Superintendent Ronald D. Segers Jr. stating that the October 31st incident did not occur at a school or school-sponsored activity
Woodsboro High School, where the three unidentified white students are enrolled along with the unknown black teenager
Meanwhile, the black teenager's attorney Matt Manning, from Corpus Christi, said his client was the victim of a hate crime and that he was shocked with either a Taser or a stun gun device by one of three students dressed up as Ku Klux Klan members.
Poynter and Sgt. Nathan Brandley, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety, declined to comment on questions about the night of the incident, citing the ongoing investigation.
Due to the Texas penal code granting animosity to minors, Manning didn't mention his client's identity or the ones of the three students he describes as 'perpetrators'.
However, he did say that, by law, the actions of using a taser means the three students can get into serious trouble.
'I represent one victim who was in fact tased by a taser, or taser-like weapon, which we know constitutes aggravated assault under the penal code in the state of Texas which is a second-degree felony because that is a deadly weapon,' said Manning.
Sitting alongside Chris Coleman, the NAACP President of the Corpus Christi chapter, Manning also hinted that neither he or his client plan to file civil action.
'The paramount concern is making sure that the investigation is conducted appropriately, which we trust that it will be,' Manning said.
According to Matt Manning (pictured), by law, the actions of using a taser, considered as a second-degree felony in Texas, means the three students can face fines or possibly incarceration over the incident
Coleman called for clarity, saying that the incident cannot go unchecked.
'The NAACP and its officers are calling this press conference and I'm just going to be real clear, we are calling this a hate crime until we get further notification of something different,' he said.
At the end of the press conference, Manning said his client had made a full recovery from the incident but could both mental and physical long-term effects.
'This has the potential to be traumatic for a long time considering the Klan is particularly emotionally evocative to black people,' Manning added.
In the meantime, the Woodsboro school district has vowed to continue working with local law enforcement until the criminal investigation reaches a conclusion.
The district will also 'strictly enforce' its anti-discrimination policy permitted by law and its Student Code of Conduct, according to the Facebook statement.
'Woodsboro ISD will continue to operate with law enforcement during the criminal investigation and will re-evaluate the situation if additional facts are discovered that bring the conduct within the jurisdiction of the WISD Student Code of Conduct,' the statement read.
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