ASHTABULA COUNTY, Oh. — A student in Ohio intentionally beat up a fellow student with epilepsy over a rumor. Now, the boy’s family is outraged and worried about his safety.
Troy Tomchak is a typical 14-year-old. He is a student and athlete at Lakeside Junior High School. The boy suffers from epilepsy which is a neurological disorder that causes seizures. Tomchak suffered a seizure in April of 2011 which led to a later diagnosis of epilepsy.
“It changed my life by me not doing a lot of things,” Tomchak said.
The boy’s mother says their lives have changed dramatically since her son’s first seizure.
“His medicine has been increased because of still having seizures in his sleep, he’s more prone to having brain damage, he’s more prone to having kidney problems, being hit in his head can be fatal.” said the boy’s mother Heather Tomchak-Bragg.
A boy who had once been Troy’s friend and football teammate slammed the 14-year-old boy to the ground. He also punched him in the face and stomped his head and body. Tomchak says the boy told a classmate that he beat him up because Tomchak had told someone earlier in the day that he had once beat the boy in a wrestling match.
“And then everybody was saying, kill him, stomp on his head, make sure he dies,” Troy Tomchak said. “He was hitting me when I was on the ground. I covered my head because if I don’t, I can die.”
Tomchak still had an imprint of the teen’s shoe on his back when he was taken to the emergency room that day. Doctors also believe that he suffered a seizure during the fight.
The Tomchak family says now the boy who assaulted their son and his friends are now trying to intimidate their family.
“He can’t go outside to play, he can’t get onto the bus without hearing it, and I don’t know what else to do,” his mother said.
School officials say there’s nothing they can do about the fight because it happened away from school grounds once school was dismissed.
The Tomchak family is urging police in Ashtabula to arrest and prosecute the student.
“I’m furious, I want justice for my son, I want these kids to know that when you do something wrong that will hurt another person or even take their life, that there are consequences and you don’t get away with it,” his mother said.
The Tomchak family has pulled Troy out of school and he will now he home schooled.
