MIAMI BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) - A Miami Beach student is speaking out, more than a week after he said an older student struck him so hard, he broke his jaw.
Thirteen-year-old Anwar Plez said he was blindsided by the student after repeated taunts.
“Fracture right here on this side and a fracture on this side,” he said as he showed 7News his injured jaw, which had to be wired shut.
The Nautilus Middle School student said it all started when the older student called his mother names and made fun of his hair on several occasions.
One day after school, Plez said, the older student smeared ketchup on his jeans at a nearby Burger King.
Plez said he did not report any of these problems. “He was just a normal bully, and I didn’t take it as anything else than that,” he said.
But on Jan. 16, Plez said, the older student started harassing him again.
“He kept bothering me over and over. Just to hear him in my ear over and over is annoying,” said Plez.
To get him to go away, Plez agreed to a fight after school. When the older student approached him off school grounds, Plez said he tried to ignore him and leave with a friend.
“When I told him, ‘Let’s go,’ and I wasn’t looking, he came from behind and hit me across the face,” the boy recalled.
A security camera captured the sucker punch.
Isa Tavernier, Plez’s mother, said the video is hard to watch.
“You can hear it,” said Tavernier, “and I’m like, ‘Oh, my gosh. Really?'”
Her son was caught off guard and was left with a broken jaw.
“I never, like, said to anyone, ‘My child is so perfect,’ but violent? Never, never,” said Tavernier.
Plez is not seen throwing a punch in the video.
“I think this other young man was hell-bent on hurting Anwar,” said the family’s attorney, Bradley Ross.
The family’s attorney is preparing to file a civil lawsuit against the parents of the so-called bully, who was arrested by Miami Beach Police and charged with battery.
Plez’s loved ones are also demanding answers from the school about the past of the child who threw the punch.
“We are going to be investigating what the school knew, and when they knew it, about the history of this other child,” said Ross.
They also want to know about his future, before Plez returns to school.
The victim continues to recover after having undergone surgery and spending three days in the hospital.
“He was in pain,” said Tavernier. “I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.”
The Miami-Dade County school system is looking into this matter. However, school officials said they will not release any specific information on any child’s history or punishment.
Attempts to reach the other student’s parents have been unsuccessful.
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