A Texas mom has been charged after she allegedly mixed her son's drink contents on purpose to prevent bullies from stealing his beverage.
According to the Bexar County Sheriff's Office, Jennifer Lynn Rossi, 45, combined lemon, salt, and vinegar with her son’s drink and placed it inside a sports bottle before he went to Legacy Traditional School in San Antonio.
The boy - who has not been identified - then allegedly gave the rancid drink to his 11-year-old classmate during a gym class, which resulted in them being hospitalized after developing nausea and a headache.
"On Tuesday, March 5, 2024, Bexar County Sheriff's Deputies were dispatched to Legacy Traditional School - Alamo Ranch for a sick child," the department wrote in a statement. "Upon arriving to the school, deputies learned that the sick child was given a drink by a classmate during P.E. class."
Read the police statement below:
The department explained on Facebook that they learned Jennifer "intentionally mixed the contents of the drink to allegedly prevent her son's drink from being stolen at school by other students".
"Although the contents of the drink were non-toxic, the incident resulted in a child being hospitalized," the statement added. "Hospital staff informed the investigator that the child victim required additional medical monitoring and would eventually be discharged from the hospital."
The mom has now been charged with injury to a child causing bodily injury, according to a report from Bexar County Sheriff's Office.
"Whether the allegations of bullying at the root of this situation are substantiated or not, there is never an excuse to take matters into your own hands and injure a child," Sheriff Javier Salazar said, as cited by CBS News.
As reported by ABC News, an arrest warrant affidavit alleged that Jennifer told her son to give the concoction to the student who fell sick because he was allegedly bullying him. She reportedly told officials that she was a nurse and knew that the mixture she made was nontoxic.
Legacy Traditional Schools spoke out about the horrifying incident in a statement to KSAT, writing: "Nothing is more important to us than the safety of our students, teachers, and staff members. We thank the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office for its investigation into this serious incident, and commend students and staff members who acted promptly by alerting the administration and local authorities."
"The student who initially brought the drink to school will be subject to disciplinary actions in accordance with Legacy policies governing student conduct," they added, saying that the drink was immediately confiscated and authorities were informed.
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