Greece mother: "My son was wrongly named as one of the kids in the bullying video"

Posted at: 06/21/2012 6:02 PM | Updated at: 06/21/2012 6:35 PM
By: Amanda Ciavarri | WHEC.com

Greece Police say they have identified four middle school students who were involved in verbally attacking a Greece bus monitor on YouTube. They also say those kids are now being threatened.

The police department and school district said the four boys involved are all seventh graders at Athena Middle School. The bus monitor, Karen Klein, has decided she won’t press charges at this point. 

Police are saying that three of the kids are ones that we actually hear verbally abusing Klein and the fourth is the one recording the video. Police say the students’ actions on the video are not criminal and because they are minors they won’t be charging them. 

A woman says her life has changed in the last 24 hours because her son was wrongly named on the radio as one of the kids in the video. Trisha Warren didn’t want to go on camera, but did want to make it clear her son, Tyler Warren, was not in the YouTube videos. 

Warren said, “My son is very afraid. That’s not his bus. He was never on this bus. I wish I knew how his name got out there.”

Tyler’s name was given out on radio stations as one of the kids abusing Greece bus monitor Karen Klein in the video. 

The videos went viral Wednesday, catching national media attention. At a press conference, Greece Police and the school district said they identified four seventh graders from Athena Middle School as the kids involved with the video. 

The district won’t comment on what those actions will be, but say they will decide in the next few days. Police have said that criminal charges won’t be filed because in New York State harassment is only a violation and to charge a minor their actions have to be criminal. During one of the videos, a student makes a physical threat to Klein. 

Captain Steve Chatterton, Greece Police, said, “One of the things in the law is how the victim feels. How the victim interprets and Karen didn't hear a lot of the threats and we talked to her at length about that and we talked to her about hypothetical situations, how you would feel if you heard. She went as far as saying she would have not felt threatened.”

The kids involved are now receiving threats of their own. 

Captain Chatterton said, “When someone watches the video, there is not going to be a lot of remorse for the children. But they have received death threats. We have received 911 calls from the home saying someone is holding them hostage. That’s not fun, that’s a crime and that’s a form of bullying. It makes everyone doing it no better than the four kids who are doing this.”

Trisha’s son was not one of the four students involved, but because his name was released as one of them, the family has received threats. She just wants it to stop. 

Warren said, “We are being harassed. He is being harassed on Facebook, obviously. Death threats, just name calling. I am getting harassed by work with people calling.”

News10NBC has also learned the stepfather of one of the kids involved is a member of the Greece Police Department. He is not a part of the investigation.

There is a huge outpouring of community support for Klein. There is an online website raising money for her. On Wednesday night, Klein told News10NBC she will use the money to go on a cruise and maybe retire. 

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