LAKE WORTH, Fla. — A Lake Worth father is demanding answers over the way his 9-year-old son, Nathaniel Dopico, was treated following an investigation into a threatening note left in another student’s journal at Panther Run Elementary.
The mother of that student told us she removed her daughter from the school out of fear.
But now, Yunior Dopico and his son are telling their side of the story.
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“When my son requested for me to be notified, or for his parent to be notified, two times at least they denied that request,” said Yunior Dopico.
With tears in his eyes, Yunior says the Palm Beach County School District and Panther Run Elementary failed his son.
“Many things have been violated, and I think that justice should be done,” he added.
Nathaniel, a fourth grader at the school, says he was questioned for hours over the note.
“The principal kept telling me, I kept telling her that it wasn’t me. And the principal kept telling me be honest with me because I have cameras,” he said.
Nathaniel says he was then questioned by police with his older sister present while his parents were away.
“He starts reading me the Miranda rights and asked if I need a lawyer, I said ‘No.’”
Yunior says his son admitted to writing the note out of fear. He says their rights were violated.
“That’s a clear violation of parental rights.”
Nathaniel says the incident left him shaken. He says he’s now being taunted by other students at his school.
“Some kids from other classes calling me names, teachers checking on me like constantly,” Nathaniel says.
The investigation later concluded another student wrote the note.
In a letter to the Panther Run community, school principal Risa Suarez said the student who wrote the note, along with their parents, came forward to explain it.
Suarez stated the note was part of an online game unintentionally brought to school.
But Yunior says that explanation is not enough to quell the trauma caused to his son and his family.
“He had nightmares, I didn’t send him to school for a week, he was super nervous, anxious, I mean, no kid should go through this, this is unfair.”
Yunior is hoping for an apology and change in the way the school conducts future investigations.
“I definitely want to hold them accountable for what they did.”
