Elementary school boy suspended for threatening classmate with "Hobbit" ring
A 9-year-old boy was suspended from his elementary school in Kermit after he told a classmate he could make him disappear with a ring from Mount Doom, a fictional location in J.R.R. Tolkein's The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings series.
Jason Steward told the New York Daily News his son Aiden had recently watched the film, "The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies" and that it inspired his imagination.
"I assure you my son lacks the magical powers necessary to threaten his friend's existence," Stewart wrote to the publication, "If he did, I'm sure he'd bring him right back."
But school administrators at Kermit Elementary School didn't see Aiden's comment as play. According to the report, Aiden was suspended for making a "terroristic threat."
This isn't the first time the boy has faced disciplinary actions. The New York Daily News says about six months ago he got in trouble for referring to another classmate as "black" and for bringing "The Big Book of Knowledge" to school. In addition to a chapter on the solar system, the children's encyclopedia has illustrations of a pregnant woman in it, Steward said.
The school would not comment on the allegations.
The report from the New York Daily News here.