Student intervenes as bully beats gay teen, then suspended for 10 days

A Florida high school student under suspension for 10 days after breaking up a lunch room assault on a gay teen says he'd do it again.


East Lee County High School senior Mark Betterson stepped in as another student, James Griffin, began striking student Jonathan Colon in the school's lunch room moments after Griffin threw milk in his face and called him a gay slur.

Griffin faces battery charges, while Colon received minor injuries.

Betterson received a 10 day suspension under the Fort Myers-area school's zero-tolerance policy around fighting, but he plans to appeal, he told Fox 4 Now. "It's not fair for somebody to get beat up for something that he is," Betterson said. "I'm not going to sit there and watch someone get bullied. I've been bullied too."

Colon returned to school Friday and organized a rally to protest Betterson's suspension.

Watch a report on the fight below.