High Schooler Defends Blind Kid From Bully: Cody Pines Never Punished Over Huntington Beach Fight? [Video]

After a high schooler defends a blind kid from a bully, the “hero” in question, Cody Pines, was allegedly punished for the Huntington Beach High School fight. A petition called the actions of the school unjust, noting that Pines only came to the aid of a blind boy named Austin, and they were calling for Cody Pines to stay in school.

Now, the school is claiming Pines was never punished at all.

In a related report by the Inquisitr, the bully in the Huntington Beach high school fight, a boy named Noah, was arrested on battery charges after the video went viral.

Cody Pines may be famous as the high schooler who defended a blind kid from a bully, but in an interview with the New York Daily News he was also quite clear that he did not want to ruin the bully’s life.

“I kinda regretted it but I kinda didn’t because if I didn’t Austin would’ve been more hurt,” Cody said, adding that he felt bad about Noah’s arrest. “I don’t want to ruin his life.”

However, the official statement released about the Huntington Beach High School fight did not recognize Pines’ actions as just.

“The Huntington Beach school community is disappointed and discouraged by the recent bullying behavior captured on video at Huntington Beach High School. We are proud of our quality high schools, and this incident does not reflect the school climates.”

A Cody Pines petition, on the other hand, described how the high schooler defended the blind kid from the bully, noting why they believe violence was justified in the particular case of the Huntington Beach High School fight.

“Cody stepped in when he saw his friend and fellow classmate who is visually disabled being physically bullied. (Punched multiple times in face/head) Cody comes and steps in, punches the bully one time to get him away, guides his friend to a safe location and talks to the bully about how he was beating up a blind kid and how it was wrong.

“We believe Cody should stay in school where he belongs. While violence is never the best option what Cody did to defend his friend and classmate was justified. And schools ‘zero-tolerance’ policies out even the person saving disabled friends.”

As of this publishing, the petition is almost within reach of the 80,000 signature goal. But, it turns out that such support may have been unnecessary.

Initial reports claimed that Cody Pines was kicked off the high school team for defending the blind kid, but Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Greg Plutko, denied these rumors.

“Of note to some has been the question of whether the student who came to the support of his classmate was removed from the HBHS football team. That student was not removed from the team, as he was not on this year’s roster and has not played football since last spring,” Plutko said, according to the OC Weekly.

In addition, Alyssa Griffiths, Huntington Beach Union High School District’s public information coordinator, says Pines was never suspended for defending the visually impaired kid.

“We want to thank the family of the student who came to the aid of his fellow classmate, as they have granted us permission to share the following information,” Griffiths said. “Their student has not been suspended over past two school days. He has been eligible to attend school with all privileges both Thursday and Friday of this week, and this eligibility will continue.”

What do you think about the Huntington Beach High School fight video? Do you think violence is justified when defending against bullies?

[Image via Shutterstock]