Student paralyzed by bullying finally gets a $4.2 million dollar settlement

A student by the name of Sawyer Rosenstein got paralyzed due to bullying and after six years of the assault, he has finally gotten a $4.2 million dollar settlement.

Sawyer Rosenstein's life changed forever six years ago, when a bully left him crippled for life. When Sawyer was just 12 years of age, a bully punched him in the belly, due to which, he was left paralyzed for life, from his waist downwards. Several operations had to be performed on him, which at times landed him in near-death situations.

Six years after the terrible incident, Sawyer Rosenstein finally got the settlement he deserved by the New Jersey School Board in the district where he was a student. The board has agreed to pay $4.2 million in settlement and even though this amount cannot give Sawyer his life back, it still provides some compensation.

Sawyer Rosenstein, 18, is now a student at Syracuse University and is majoring in communication. When the case was settled, Sawyer gave an interview to MSNBC.com, saying, “It feels really great to finally have just a sense of closure … that this really difficult part of my life is behind me. I can actually focus on all of the successful things that I am doing now and all of the successful plans that I have for my future.”

Even though Sawyer Rosenstein does not like telling everyone his story, he still wants to share it with the world to show how he did not get handicapped by this one incident and how he is still succeeding despite all odds.

The tragic incident took place on the 16th of May, 2006, when a bully punched Rosenstein in the stomach. The punch was so hard that he fell to his knees. Two days after the incident, he screamed out at home and his parents called the ambulance right away. It was discovered that Rosenstein had gotten paralyzed from his waist-down due to a clot which had formed after the blow in his abdomen and had travelled down his spine and burst there, leaving him paralyzed for life.

It was revealed that Sawyer Rosenstein had been telling the school authorities for a long time that he was being bullied, but no one ever did anything about it. Even though none of those indicated have admitted to having done anything wrong by ignoring Sawyer's please, the settlement still marks an important step in terms of dealing with bullying.