A teenage football player's teammates are said to have intentionally put peanuts in his locker despite him having severe allergies.
Back in October, Carter Mannon, 16, told his Varsity football teammates at Lake Travis High School, Texas, about his peanut allergy and made it clear that it could kill him.
But despite the young boy's admission to his team, he discovered hours before a game that peanuts had been placed in his locker, his cleats, and even the inside of his jersey.
"It was a can of peanuts that they just kind of scattered throughout his locker and put in his cleats," his mom, Shawna Mannon told PEOPLE, adding that "one of the boys came back and tried to kind of clean up a little bit, but the residue was there, the damage had been done".
According to Carter's mom, her son broke out in hives almost immediately and could’ve gone into anaphylactic shock or worse.
She claimed that the teen's teammates had divided reactions after the harmful incident: "One of the boys was sharing a video with the other teammates of them doing what they did. A bunch of them were kind of just laughing ... A few of the boys did say, 'That's not cool, that could have killed him.'"
Shortly after, Carter reported the incident to the school, which turned discipline over to the athletic department. The boys involved were benched for two days, and forced to switch locker rooms and do extra runs at practice.
While one student showed remorse, the mom-of-three said "a lot of bullying came after" as her son was subjected to verbal retaliation, adding that people would "flick him as he's walking down the hall from behind".
In addition to this, she alleged that her daughter - who is a senior at the school - was also taunted by individuals so she went to the school board in November and they opened an investigation into bullying. However, they determined that the incident did not qualify as bullying.
"Under the Texas Education Code, bullying is a very specific behavior and is defined as an act or pattern of acts that physically harms a student or materially and substantially disrupts the educational process," a representative for the Lake Travis Independent School District told PEOPLE.
"Upon concluding our investigation, it was determined that the legal elements of bullying were not met. However, in many instances, even if the legal elements of bullying are not met, the district addresses behaviors that do not meet expectations in policy or programs," they added.
Carter - who discovered his severe allergies at nine months old - has now switched schools. "I felt like the school is no longer a safe place for him, mentally, physically. I didn't trust the district anymore to keep him safe," Shawna shared.
Shawna has filed a complaint with the US Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights and is in the middle of a grievance with Lake Travis ISD. She contends that the school district ignored its policy when it allowed the athletic department to determine discipline, per the Daily Mail.
She is also working with lobbyists to help children affected by severe allergies, explaining: "We're working to get a law in place to protect kids with food allergies from attacks like this. We also want to redefine the definition of bullying in the state of Texas."
"When you ask somebody, ‘Could this kill you?’ and then you just do exactly what you just asked… This is not a prank or joke," she added.
