I rarely post an entire article, but this one is worth the exception. What happened to Casey, the body slammer, as I call him, should be a lesson to every kid that’s bullied. Stand up and fight back! Don’t let yourself be an easy target.
Fight, fight, fight!
From The Blaze
Daily Mail reports they duct taped him to a pole, slapped him and repeatedly dubbed him 'fatty' to the point Casey Heynes thought about taking his life.
Now the bullied and overweight teenager has spoken out about that shocking moment when he turned the tables on his tormentor with a stunning wrestling move caught on camera making him a You Tube sensation.
The 15-year-old finally floored the school bully after he repeatedly hit him.
This week he revealed he had snapped because 'Everything had built up over three years'.
The Aussie schoolboy has received thousands of messages of support from all over the world since the 40-second clip was posted online.
But he denied being a superhero, even though he said he has enjoyed being nicknamed 'The Punisher'.
His older sister Tiana said he was now an icon, and his father Colin defended his son's actions, saying he had 'no choice' but to react the way he did.
Casey, from New South Wales, said his three years of bullying left him contemplating suicide.
The footage, apparently shot on a mobile phone by another child, shows one boy picking on Casey, punching him in the face and stomach while a group of pupils laugh and egg him on.
The smaller boy squares up to Casey and said: 'Have you been talking s***?'
Casey's attacker runs at him before throwing a punch in his direction backing the 15-year-old into a corner
Backed up against a wall, Casey responds: 'I haven't been talking s***.'Casey finally lashes out grabbing his attacker wresting him before spinning him around 360 degrees and slamming him to the ground in a wrestling move.
The teenager said the 12-year-old had tormented him two weeks earlier.
He said: 'Two weeks prior to that he and others would come up to me and slap me across the back of the head and tease me and all of that.
'They said, 'You're a fatty' and, 'Lose some weight'.'
Take that: The dazed bully climbs slowly to his feet and limps away from the scene
He said he had gone to collect a timetable at his school, Chifley College in St Marys, Western Sydney, when the bully hit him in the face, triggering his now famous reaction.
Casey said that he thought the bully's friends would join in the attack.
'That's why I picked him up and dropped him, because I was scared,' he said.
'I wanted to diffuse the situation.'
He said he had never reacted like that before, but this time, 'Everything had built up over three years.
'All the anger came out of it.'
He said he acknowledged he could have been more seriously hurt. His tormentor ended up with a grazed knee.
However, both boys were suspended from the school for fighting.
Casey said he felt he didn't over react, saying: 'I just wanted it to stop.
He told the special Sunday night edition of the programme how he has felt picked on and put down by other youngsters ever since he can remember.
'In primary school, in year two all the way to year six, once I hit High School, one person started it and at the time I had eight friends.
'Those eight friends ditched me that first year, and then the teasing started.
'They'd call me 'fatty', slap me across the back of the head and trip me and throw water bottles at me.
'It happened practically every day.'
He said he felt 'lonely' when his friends ditched him.
'I was all alone. That's what made me an easy target.'
Asked what makes an OK day, he replied: 'When nobody touches me and teases me.'
He said he lowest moment was when he 'contemplated suicide'.
'It was a year ago. I was really putting myself down and I was down at that level. All the crap just kept on piling on.'
He also revealed how he was duct taped to a pole saying: 'They put duct tape over my eyes first and taped me to a pole.'
He said he thought the bullies targeted him 'because I don't retaliate' adding he was 'pretty much' an easy target.
Giving advice to kids who are the victims of bullies, Casey said: 'On the good days, keep your chin up. School isn't going to last forever.'
He said his older sister, Tiana, helped get him through those dark times.
Tiana said: 'When I saw the video I said to him, 'I know I shouldn't be saying this, but high five!'
'I felt to me like he had defeated something that had been troubling him for years.
'He is a hero to other kids. He's an icon.'
He dad Colin said he had no idea of the full extent of his son's suffering.
He added: 'I did not realize how much trouble he was actually in until I'd seen that video.
'He said, 'Well that goes on every day, dad'.
'I thought to myself, 'You poor little bloke. How many years did you put up with this sort of treatment?'
'After I saw it I had a tear in my eye, I felt so bad.
'I don't condone violence. It was a horrific thing to see.
'It's nothing to be proud of, but I am glad he stood up for himself.
'They backed him against a wall and he had no option. He had to do it. He had to defend himself.'
He added the incident has changed his demeanor and self esteem.
'He's already standing a lot straighter, a lot more proud, which is very good for him.
Casey has since been immortalized in a Street Fighter-style video game, and also a South Korean computer animation called 'Casey the Punisher' who turns into an Incredible Hulk-style green muscle man.
Four Facebook pages have been set up in his honour with more than 200,000 fans.
He said it felt 'pretty good' to read the thousands of messages of support he has received.
'I've never had so much support.'
EMBED-Chubby Kid Bodyslams Bully - Watch more free videos
Sunday, 20 March 2011
Casey Heynes, the skinny bully body slammer, admits he was suicidal after 3 yrs bullied
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