Mother says teen could have died during beating

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — A DeKalb County mother says her son could have died after he was taken into a bathroom at his school and was attacked. All while onlookers recorded the incident and spread it on social media.

Travail Bennett, 14, suffers from cardiac disease and had blue baby syndrome when he was born.

"Travail has already died once, at the age of 6 months. He was misdiagnosed with a serious heart injury," mother Lacina Bennett told Channel 2’s Carl Willis.

That’s why the mother said it hurt her so deeply seeing her son being beaten up.

Cellphone video shows Travail being hit repeatedly on Lithonia High School's campus Tuesday.

You do see Travail throw punches in the video, but his mother said that's to defend himself, because she knows if he was kicked or punched in the chest, he could have had a heart attack.

“We've already faced three times seeing my child on an operating table, so to see him put in that position and him not being the aggressor, it takes me to a dark place. It just takes me back to that little boy who was laying on the operating table,” Bennett said.

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Bennett told Willis a boy who Travail knows has been threatening her son. She said she alerted the school's administration but said the proper steps were not taken.

A DeKalb County Schools representative told Willis in a statement they just learned of the incident, saying:

"Following a complete and thorough investigation, we will move quickly to take the necessary actions based on what the investigation reveals."

"Why is it important for you to speak out?” Willis asked Travail.

“Because it could happen to someone else," Travail said.

Now, his mother is calling for extra attention to attacks like this.

"You send your kids (to school) for two things: To be educated and to be safe. And neither one of those things was going on in that bathroom yesterday. My child was not being educated and he was not safe," Bennett said.

Bennett said one person assisted her son during the attack. A boy who hid in one of the bathroom stalls came out and helped Travail to his feet.

Cox Media Group