WYNNE, AR (abc24.com) - The mother of a Wynne Junior High School student says she will file a formal complaint with police, after the Wynne School Board voted late Wednesday night to suspend two students at the center of an alleged hazing incident involving her son.
"I refuse to accept this, it is not right," she said.
The family of Mickey Bell, 14, says the two students put a noose around Bell's neck and dragged him across a locker room floor before Junior High football practice on September 24.
Superintendent Carl Easley recommended the students, identified Wednesday night as Jeremy Miller and Paxton Mills, be expelled for the rest of the school year.
More than 200 people packed the district's cafeteria waiting for the verdict.
On Wednesday night, the board met in a special-called meeting to discuss the incident. The board met for more than 3 1/2 hours before voting to suspend both for the rest of the semester.
After the vote, as Easley read a statement, Bell's mom stormed out of the meeting. As she got emotional, she said her son deserved better and she would be filing a police report on Thursday.
As Bell talked with the media, a crowd assembled, angry at the board's vote.
Police quickly dispersed the crowd.
"It is not right, what happened to my son should never happen to anybody's child and something should be done about this," Bell's mom said.
Easley later released the statement he was unable to finish reading at Wednesday night's meeting. It read, in part, "The high school administration did a thorough job of investigating the incident and found that nothing took place that could be considered criminal, that no student was physically injured, or had been pulled with a rope as reported in the media. On Monday October 1 the high school administration met with students and the parents of those that were involved and informed them of the suspensions and recommendations for expulsion. During the investigation the high school administration made every attempt to protect the due process rights of our students in spite of rumors and media reports. At no time did anyone try to cover up the details of what happened."
