Andrew Dubber     

The x-ray reveals no broken jaw

Jake was beaten up at school today. Over four and a half years, he’s been able to talk his way out of pretty much every scrape going – but this time, the whole thing was premeditated in a ‘Let’s get him!’ kind of way.

He and his friends Omer and Mohammed were having a bit of a snowball fight on the school field at lunchtime, when he was approached by a group of kids, shouting abuse at him. Around fifteen or so 14 and 15 year olds set upon him. Half a dozen of them punched him in the face. Repeatedly.

Pretty intimidating stuff.

Here’s the cool bit. Jake had the presence of mind to pretty much just put his arms by side and just walk away. They went with him, still punching for about 50 metres, give or take, but they eventually stopped and left.

He’s big for his age, and particularly big for his school, so it took a gang of them to get the courage up to have a go at him – but he knows that fighting back would immediately incur the wrath of extended alliances, factions and older brothers. His calm, rational and totally composed and collected response to the whole thing blows me away.

I’d have flailed my arms and squeaked, probably.

Choosing our reaction
For a brief moment, part of me thought – yeah, it’s just a few bruises, and schoolyard fights happen all the time… But then the more evolved part of my brain took over, realised how stupid that way of thinking is and we leaped into action. Whichever way you look at it, it’s assault, plain and simple – and that means a trip to the A&E and a police report.

The school has identified three of the offenders so far, and they’ve been sent home. Next, they’re being arrested.

I don’t hold with the theory that getting roughed up at school is just part of growing up and prepares you for a tough world – because it’s not something anyone should have to put up with, and even if it does happen to you later in life, it’s not something you need practice in.

I certainly don’t ever seem to get beaten up at work – and all the bullying I got at school served no real purpose that I can think of.

As far as the cops are concerned, this is pretty high up there. Crimes against people trump crimes against property right from the outset. Threatening violence against someone is an arrestable crime (as is swearing in public, it turns out). An organised attack is serious stuff. Doesn’t matter where it takes place or whether the assailants are wearing school uniform.

No lasting damage, thankfully
All in all, there was a spot of concussion, a moment of lost time, A&E were concerned enough about his jaw to take an x-ray, which turned out to be all fine (though it revealed wisdom tooth trouble for the future), and the nice policeman who came around to our house for a couple of hours afterward took a very thorough statement.

I’m furious and upset, of course, but Jake’s okay apart from a fat lip, a headache, and a few good facial cuts and bruises. His girlfriend Hannah is making sympathetic noises at him now, so he’s happy.

And we can’t blame his weirdness on head injuries. He’s been like this as long as I can remember.

News as it happens
I twittered the whole affair as it went along, but because individual twitter posts display on my blog without previous post context, a couple of people just saw A&E and imagined terrible car accident. Sorry Mum & Dad. This is why you need to be on Twitter – and get the whole story as it happens.

Blogging, Skype, and Family Update group emails are no longer enough. Now you need to be tweeting too. Let me know if you need any help with that…

And speaking of Twitter, I’m blown away by the amazing amount of concern, support and wishes from the people that follow me (@dubber) and Jake (@jakedubber) on Twitter. Thanks so much.

Tagged: Birmingham, Personal