Seven-Year-Old Boy Found Hanging on School Rest Room Hook Dies

Posted on Feb 01, 2008

It was a sight one Austin, Texas schoolteacher will never forget.

Searching for a 7-year-old boy who had excused himself from a school assembly to use the rest room, the teacher discovered the boy hanging on a hook and unconscious, with his pants pulled down but underwear on. Listed in critical condition when he arrived at the hospital, the boy died the next day, the Associated Press reported.

KXAN-TV, the NBC affiliate in Austin, said the boy may have suffered a heart attack. Police said the boy was in cardiac arrest from a lack of oxygen when paramedics arrived at Magnolia McCullough Elementary School.

The APD ruled out sexual assault or bullying. Police said the boy wore loose pants which may have fallen down on their own.

"We have concerns," said Jeff Hampton with the APD Child Abuse Unit, "not just as far as the criminal investigation, but also concerns with how the school operates, which is not under our domain to dictate what should or should not be done, but the schools should be a safe environment for our children," KXAN reported.

The hooks on the wall in the boys’ gym locker room bathroom were “low” enough where the boy’s shirt collar could have gotten stuck, police said.

There was no surveillance camera in the rest room where the boy was found. Police are interviewing students and staff members at the charter school, which offers pre-kindergarten through third grade.

Thus far, there is no evidence the boy was bullied at school, but it's possible he was attacked, Spangler said. Even if police find another student responsible, Texas criminal law doesn't apply to children under 10 years of age, said LaRu Woody, Travis County assistant prosecutor.