Maryland boy still recovering after parents say he was ‘hung’ while ‘playing’ in school bathroom

On November 18, 2024By Littum

The parents of a boy injured in a hanging incident at a school in Charles County, Maryland, said they don’t think they’re getting the whole story.

The parents of a boy injured in a hanging incident at an elementary school in Charles County, Maryland, said they don’t think they’re getting the whole story.

“He has marks under his eyes,” said the mother of a 7-year-old boy injured in an incident at school told WUSA9.

She said she was shocked when she saw her son after the second-grader was injured in the bathroom at C. Paul Barnhart Elementary School in Waldorf.

“He said the little boy told him, ‘I’m going to show you how I did people back then,'” the mother told WUSA9.

“He still has bruises on his neck from being choked,” said the boy’s father.

Carrie Burke, principal of the school, issued a statement said the incident was first reported to 911 as a possible suicide attempt, but she said that is not true.

“This was then posted on social media by a community member, causing a bit of community concern,” Burke wrote.

“Charles County Public Schools (CCPS) quickly shared an update with you as well as the Barnhart staff to clear up any inaccurate information that began to circulate. I apologize for the delay in this update, but our administrative team met the needs of our students. The incident was also reported to our school resource officer (SRO),” she said.

The school said two students were reportedly “playing horse” in a school bathroom when one of the student’s jackets got caught in a stall door hook.

“The student was unable to free himself, and the other student involved was also unable to help them. This student left the bathroom to seek assistance from staff and reported the incident to administrators,” she wrote.

Then the staff called 911 for “additional preventive medical support,” Burke said.

The boy’s parents said they believe there is more to the story.

“It doesn’t make sense to me,” said the boy’s mother. “If you play horse, how do you get caught on the hook? Like we need answers. I want answers and we won’t stop until we get them.”

The boy was in second grade at the school and his mother said he would not return to school.

“I feel like it’s bullying because there’s no telling how many other kids it’s happened to and they want the school district to step up,” the boy’s mother said.

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