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Special Needs Student Dies After Family Says He Was Attacked, Kicked In Head At School
He came home from school spitting up blood.
A special needs high school student from Washington, DC, died on Monday after being violently attacked at his school over his cell phone. According to Fox Baltimore, Joevon Patterson-Smith was struck in the face and head earlier this month because he wouldn’t let three classmates use his cell phone.
The victim’s dad said Patterson-Smith was cornered inside a small room inside a classroom. He was struck in the head and sprayed with perfume, WLWT5 reported. After school, the father said he began spitting up blood.
According to Fox Baltimore, a member of Patterson-Smith’s family said he suffered a blood clot in his head. After being released from the hospital for injuries he endured during that altercation, Patterson-Smith began suffering from seizures a few days later. Soon after, he was declared brain-dead. He died on Monday night, according to a police death report, three weeks after he reported being attacked.
His death is not being investigated as a homicide at this time. Police are waiting for an autopsy from the medical examiner for an official cause of death.
Family members told WUSA that the teen was badly bullied. They said they had reported incidents of bullying to the school, Ballou High School, in the past.
The school’s interim principal Katreena Shelby wrote a letter to students stating, “Joevon’s death is a devastating loss, and it is sure to raise many emotions, concerns, and questions from our entire school.”
No arrests have yet to be made in connection with the boy’s death.
[Photo: Facebook]
