When a bully was beating up a kid with severely limited vision, one brave student decided to stop it. However, the “hero” student was threatened with being suspended from school and kicked off the football team for delivering a dose of painful justice.
An online petition drew a lot of attention to reinstate a Southern California high school student. Cody Pine was in danger of being suspended from school and kicked off the football team because he physically defended a visually impaired student who was being punched in the face.
“We believe Cody should be back on his [football] team and back in school where he belongs,” the petition read. “While violence is never the best option, what Cody did to defend his friend and classmate was justified.”
The incident at Huntington Beach High School was caught on video during a lunch break, KCAL-TV reported. The footage has since gone viral. In the video, a student who is reportedly blind was being slapped around and punched by one student as several people simply watched.
Eventually, Cody Pine spots the incident and gives the alleged bully a roundhouse punch, knocking him to the ground. As the bully’s friends start to confront Cody, he yells at the attacker, who is motionless on the ground, “Trying to f*cking jump a blind kid, bro!”
“Are you OK, Austin?” Cody asked the blind boy who was being punched. “Alright, come here,” Cody said as he led the blind kid away. He then yells back at the alleged attacker’s friends, “He’s punching a f*cking blind kid, bro!” As he walks away holding the victim, the hero turns one final time and says, “I swear to God, if you f*cking, f*ck with this kid again, I will f*ck you up!”
Huntington Beach Police announced the arrest of the alleged bully. KCAL reported: “The victim and suspect know each other and have a history of not getting along. Yesterday the victim walked past the suspect, and they got into an argument. At that time, the suspect punched the victim several times, and that is when the third student intervened and struck the suspect to prevent any further attack on the victim.”
Meanwhile, Cody Pine was free to go, but he wasn’t completely off the hook. Despite the footage and witnesses, the school said it would still investigate his actions, citing its “zero-tolerance” policy on violence. With threats and rumors that Cody may be suspended and kicked off the football team, the community rallied behind the student.
“The school is now responding to this isolated incident by interviewing students and witnesses to determine exactly what happened,” the district said in its statement. Commenters flooded the online petition with words of support and over 80,000 signatures. “The hero did the right thing. Don’t punish a kid for doing the right thing!!!!” wrote one supporter.
“Great job! Our future is in good hands because of young men such as yourself,” posted another. “The day you punish people who protect the helpless is the day you’ve lost humanity. Don’t be STUPID!” protested another. Huntington Beach student Maya Jensen applauded Cody’s courage. “A lot of people are calling him a hero and I would as well for stepping in when no one else did and decide to just film it instead,” she said.
Sources confirmed Cody Pine was not suspended or kicked off the football team thanks to the overwhelming praise of many in the community who claimed he did the right thing. In a unique twist, Cody came to the defense of the student accused of starting the brawl. “I saw him today. He apologized and for everybody not to put so much hate on him or any hate at all because he’s already learned it,” he said. “But everybody is hating on him and it’s not cool.” Cody even had sympathy for the noted bully and encouraged mercy toward him, which tells us all we need to know about him.
