California Student Defends ‘Visually Impaired’ Friend from Bully — Gets Kicked Off Football Team (UPDATED)

Update: Via KCAL-9:

Reports that a Huntington Beach High School student who intervened in the campus beating of a visually impaired classmate had been suspended were not accurate, school officials said Friday. . . .

Erroneous reports had also circulated that Pine had been kicked off the school football team, but he actually left the squad last spring and was not on this year’s roster, according to Huntington Beach Union High School District spokeswoman Alyssa Griffiths.

Original story below:

No good deed, &c. Via the Daily Mail:

A California teenager who rushed to help a blind classmate being beaten up by a bully has been kicked off the football team.

The high school junior was hailed as a hero for intervening after he saw the ‘visually impaired’ student being repeatedly hit round the head during lunch break at Huntington Beach High School, California on Wednesday.

Footage, filmed by a bystander, shows the teen knocking the bully to the ground with a single punch to stop the attack.

He leaves the boy lying bleeding on the ground while he checks on the visually impaired victim, before turning back to the attacker and asking him: ’You trying to jump a f***ing blind kid, bro? What the f*** is your problem?’ . . .

The 30-second video ends with a warning the bully: ‘I swear to God, if you f— with this kid again, I will f*** you up.’

Here’s the video (explicit language — obviously):

I can’t recall the details exactly, but I’m reminded of a story Brad Miner tells, in his book The Compleat Gentleman, about being called to his son’s school after his son gets into a fight. When Miner discovers that his son acted justifiably — I believe he, too, was protecting another student — he is visibly relieved. The son’s teacher is distressed: “But don’t you want him to be a little Gandhi?” she asks. “No,” Miner replies. “I want him to be a little Galahad.”​

It’s not clear what precipitated the violence — the bully’s brother says that he was being taunted by his victim, and police say the pair had a less-than-amicable history — but it’s clear what ended it. I might be able to admire those who can adopt a principled pacifism, but Violence Is Never the Answer is generally better as a bumper sticker than a disciplinary policy. Sometimes throwing a punch is, in fact, the right thing. Administrators who can’t or refuse to recognize the difference between being a bully and standing up to one are only compounding injustice.