Students playing Big Booting game where they walk up to classmates and kick them in the back of the head - but is it inspired by a 1998 video?
At least one eighth grader from
Massachusetts is facing criminal charges and seven others have been
suspended for allegedly kicking classmates in the back of the head as
part of a dangerous game called Big Booting that is possibly inspired by
a video from the 90s.
Thurgood Marshall Middle School in Lynn became the site of at least two incidents involving students attacking unsuspecting kids, sometimes even during class.
In the most recent incident, a 15-year-old boy was sitting in a classroom Tuesday when another student walked up behind him and kicked him in the head with a heavy work boot while the teacher wasn't looking.
Scroll own to watch Big Booting video
According to Lt Christopher
Kelly, of the Lynn Police Department, the victim was struck with such
force that the boot left an imprint in his head and he had to go to the
nurse for evaluation, WHDH reported.
In a phone interview with MailOnline, Kelly said that the alleged attacker, a 15-year-old boy, now faces one count of assault with a dangerous weapon in juvenile court. The suspect also has been suspended from school indefinitely.
Marshall Middle School Principal Richard Cowdell says a group of eighth-graders have been playing the Big Booting game for weeks.
Once the administration became aware of the dangerous pastime, the Lynn police school resource officer visited every eighth grade class and warned students not to kick one another, but his words fell on deaf ears.
The Tuesday incident involving the two 15-year-old boys took place after the police officer spoke to the students.
There was also a second case of Big
Booting last week that involved Marshall Students but took place outside
of school. According to reports, the incident was videotaped and
apparently posted on a student's Facebook page, The Daily Item reported.
Principal Cowdell personally spoke to at least 20 students about the dangerous consequences of kicking one another in the head, saying that the game could result in serious injury and even paralysis, to say nothing of disciplinary actions.
According to Lt Kelly, it appears that the Big Booting practice so far has been limited to the Lynn middle school. The officer also said that since the Tuesday incident, police have not received new reports of kids kicking one another.
It has not been determined how the game came about in the first place, although Kelly told MailOnline that one of the students linked to the game informally took credit for inventing it.
It is also possible that the eighth graders got the idea for the game online.
A YouTube video called 'Big
Boots, Boots Made for Booting' shows kids demonstrating different
techniques of kicking one another, like 'the impossible Chinese movie
flying boot,' 'the Rodney King boot,' and 'the boot from behind to the
groin while your friend is tying his shoe.'
The boys in the video are seen play-acting as the pretend to kick and punch one another in the hallways of a school.
The 2-minute clip uploaded in July 2007 comes with a description, which explains that it was created by tenth-graders as a communications class group project at Thorold Secondary School in Ontario, Canada, in 1998.
Thurgood Marshall Middle School in Lynn became the site of at least two incidents involving students attacking unsuspecting kids, sometimes even during class.
In the most recent incident, a 15-year-old boy was sitting in a classroom Tuesday when another student walked up behind him and kicked him in the head with a heavy work boot while the teacher wasn't looking.
Scroll own to watch Big Booting video
Dangerous game: Thurgood Marshall Middle School
in Lynn became the site of at least two incidents involving students
kicking unsuspecting kids, sometimes even during class
In a phone interview with MailOnline, Kelly said that the alleged attacker, a 15-year-old boy, now faces one count of assault with a dangerous weapon in juvenile court. The suspect also has been suspended from school indefinitely.
Marshall Middle School Principal Richard Cowdell says a group of eighth-graders have been playing the Big Booting game for weeks.
Once the administration became aware of the dangerous pastime, the Lynn police school resource officer visited every eighth grade class and warned students not to kick one another, but his words fell on deaf ears.
The Tuesday incident involving the two 15-year-old boys took place after the police officer spoke to the students.
'Inspiration': A video from 1998 posted several
years ago on YouTube shows Canadian students pretending to kick a
classmate in a game of Big Booting
Violent school assignment: The 2-minute clip was
created by tenth-graders as a communications class group project at
Thorold Secondary School in Ontario, Canada
Principal Cowdell personally spoke to at least 20 students about the dangerous consequences of kicking one another in the head, saying that the game could result in serious injury and even paralysis, to say nothing of disciplinary actions.
According to Lt Kelly, it appears that the Big Booting practice so far has been limited to the Lynn middle school. The officer also said that since the Tuesday incident, police have not received new reports of kids kicking one another.
It has not been determined how the game came about in the first place, although Kelly told MailOnline that one of the students linked to the game informally took credit for inventing it.
It is also possible that the eighth graders got the idea for the game online.
In poor taste: The kids in the video demonstrate
different techniques of kicking one another with names like 'the
impossible Chinese movie flying boot' and 'the Rodney King boot'
The boys in the video are seen play-acting as the pretend to kick and punch one another in the hallways of a school.
The 2-minute clip uploaded in July 2007 comes with a description, which explains that it was created by tenth-graders as a communications class group project at Thorold Secondary School in Ontario, Canada, in 1998.
