A judge has thrown the book at five teens who were involved in a cruel ice bucket challenge prank. The teens thought the prank was a joke, but it was no laughing matter to the courtroom, because the teens have now been criminally charged. They had invited an autistic kid to one of their homes and told him he was going to be participating in the ALS ice bucket challenge to raise money and awareness for Lou Gehrig’s disease. Instead, they threw a bucket of urine and tobacco juice on the unsuspecting child.
The victim’s mother saw what had happened because it was caught on video. She says her son is emotionally traumatizes by the incident, CBS News reports. Three teens will face assault charges along with charges of disorderly conduct and delinquency while the other two will get away with a simple disorderly conduct charge. Some feel that the charges are much too lenient, but the boy’s family was pleased with what the judge in the case decided. Commenters under news stories about the incident call for much harsher punishment, such as jail time and extremely lengthy community service sentences involving scrubbing toilets. Some feel that the perpetrators should be forced to volunteer with autistic people so that they can increase their sensitivity to the challenges of the disorder.
It is being reported that the six teens including the victim were all friends, and that the five charged had previously participated in “jokes” with the autistic child. However, this prank was more serious than the other “jokes” they had played. The teens were identified by authorities after the victim’s mother put the video on YouTube. She urged the public to share it as much as possible so that the five teens, ranging in age from 14 to 16, could be brought to justice. The video has been viewed on YouTube over 426,000 times. The teens thought they were playing a prank, but they will most likely not be laughing as they proceed through the legal system and receive their punishment.