Little Boy Made Up Story About Being Beat Up By Bullies

By kncitom on August 31, 2018

By Tom Mailey

On one hand, I’m glad there weren’t any 5 year-old kids savage enough in my hometown to cause the sort of horrific injuries sustained by an Olympia, Washington 6 year-old this week.

On the other hand, I don’t know how to feel now that detectives have determined the kid made the whole thing up to explain injuries they say he got from a fall.

You know the story…the little guy suffered lacerations and bruises to his face and had a broken arm, and he claimed it happened after he tried to defend his friend from bullies and they turned on him. Initially, the story was that the youngest bully was just 5 and that the oldest was 8. The boy claimed they beat him with fists, rocks and sticks and even stuffed sawdust in his mouth. A national outpouring of support included a GoFundMe page that, as of Wednesday, had raised more than $45,000–including 10 bucks from me.

But now, Olympia detectives say upon further investigation his story just didn’t hold up, saying in a press release,

“The injuries sustained by the child are the result of a fall, which occurred at the apartment complex on the date in question, not an assault. As a result, there are no suspects of any age.”

If you have kids, especially little ones, you know they’re prone to bend the truth sometimes, either to try covering up a misdeed or just because their imaginations get the best of them. I can’t be mad at him…he had no idea the story would blow up as big as it did, and he certainly wasn’t thinking this would be a great way to make some fast candy money via GoFundMe. And while it’s being implied by some sources, nobody as of yet has decisively implicated that his mom knew the story wasn’t true. If she did, that’s heinous, and child protective services should get involved yesterday. But she might not have. It’s difficult, but let’s hold off any further judgement until we get more facts.

In the meantime, let’s all  remember at the heart of this there is a 6 year old boy who already feels bad enough because, no matter how they were caused, his injuries are real.

Oh, and if you–like me–donated to the GoFundMe page that was set up for him (as of Wednesday it had raised more than $45,000), you can apply for a refund. The page itself has been taken down but you can click here for details on how to do get your donation back.