Diego Stoltz, 13, and his family hoped things would change for the better when they brought the matter of him being bullied to the notice of the school authorities.
But little did they know what the future had for them.
“He was so relieved that he had talked to someone,” Stoltz’s cousin said in a news conference.
She added: “We were on our drive back home, and I turned around and I told him, ‘I’m always going to defend you. You know that, right?’ And he nodded his head, ‘I know.’”
Within a fortnight of that, Diego was murdered by the brutal bullies.
Diego’s family held a press conference in which they announced that they are going to file a wrongful death lawsuit against the school district for failing to address Diego’s grievances properly.
“That’s what’s unbelievably devastating to this family, that this could have been prevented,” said Dave Ring, the family’s attorney.
He added: “It could have been prevented if this school took bullying seriously.”
Ring said that the boys who bullied Diego and finally sparked the events leading to his death were his childhood friends. They started bullying Diego in seventh grade for reasons yet unknown.
Two boys, aged 13, have been charged with assault by means of force likely to produce great bodily injury and voluntary manslaughter.
The lawsuit says that Diego complained being “verbally and physically” bullied to the vice principal of Landmark Middle School.
He was instructed to take Friday off and return on Monday.
The school decided to suspend the accused boys from school for three days starting from Monday and to change their class routines.
The suit filed by Diego’s family claims that the boys were still in the school on Monday.
It was during lunch on Monday when the boys attacked Diego. A cellphone video of the attack shows Diego hitting his head on a pillar.
Diego died nine days after the attack and medics took him off life support.
Anahi Velasco, the spokesperson for Moreno Valley school district, told KTLA that the school didn’t do anything improper in the whole scenario.
“The two boys who attacked and killed Diego are responsible for this death,” Velasco told KTLA in an email.
“Bullying in schools is a national issue. This issue constitutes a shared responsibility among parents, students, school district personnel, community leaders and law enforcement,” the spokesperson said.
“Together, we need to send a resounding message these behaviors will not be tolerated in our schools. Keeping kids safe in schools is a high priority at MVUSD.”
During a memorial service for Diego, other students and their families reiterated that bullying is a major problem at their school and the authorities have constantly been unable to do something about it.
Replaced!