Teen football players are under fire after they ‘deliberately put peanuts into an allergic teammate’s locker.’
Carter Mannon’s peanut allergy was diagnosed at just nine months old.
By exercising caution, he’s been able to live a normal life, even making it onto the Varsity football team at Lake Travis High School, Texas.
However, according to Mannon’s mum, his teammates took advantage of their knowledge of his allergy, filling his locker with peanuts that could kill him.
Recalling the moment her son’s allergy became apparent, Shawna Mannon, tells People: “We had him sitting on the counter, and my husband was making a peanut butter sandwich right next to him. Carter reached his hand inside of the peanut butter jar and he ended up smearing it on himself.
“He broke out in hives right away – it was a perfect handprint of hives. And that’s when we realized, ‘Oh, he must be allergic.’”
His allergy was extreme and well-documented at his school.
In fact, he’d suffered during a prior incident when he accidentally ate a contaminated cookie, resulting in two doses of his EpiPen and a trip to hospital.
As per Mayo Clinic: “Anaphylaxis is a severe, life-threatening allergic reaction. In anaphylaxis, the immune system releases a flood of chemicals that can cause the body to go into shock. Blood pressure drops suddenly, and the airways narrow, blocking your breathing. The pulse may be fast and weak, and you may have a skin rash. You may also get nauseous and vomit.
“Anaphylaxis needs to be treated right away with an injection of epinephrine. If it isn’t treated right away, it can be deadly.”
After this scare, Mannon faced another dangerous incident – and this time, his mum claims it was no accident.
She alleges that Mannon’s teammates decided to play a potentially deadly ‘prank’ on their highly allergic teammate.
Shawna explains: “They were kind of joking around about it and they said, ‘But could it kill you if it touched you?’ And he says, ‘Yeah, it absolutely could.’ If it got in his nose, eyes, or mouth, that’s where it would go into anaphylactic shock. And so he told them, ‘Yes, it could absolutely kill me.’
“Then, the next day before the game, they went in and they had put peanuts in his locker, on his jersey, and in his cleats.
“It was a can of peanuts that they just kind of scattered throughout his locker and put in his cleats.”
Mannon’s reaction was fast and extreme, with hives beginning to develop on his arm.
The incident was reported, and the boys involved were benched for two days, forced to switch locker rooms and do extra runs at practice.
However, Shawna claims Mannon faced backlash over this.
She alleges: “The kid would flick him as he’s walking down the hall from behind. There was a lot of verbal retaliation… There was one point where someone in the locker room put a peanut butter granola bar in his backpack.”
Shawna went to the school board to report the alleged incident, however, it didn’t qualify as bullying.
A Lake Travis Independent School District representative tells People: “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. Upon concluding our investigation, it was determined that the legal elements of bullying were not met. ”
Carter has since switched schools over the treatment, with Shawna stating she felt it was ‘no longer a safe place for him.’
