Iowan’s Shocked By Act Of Violence Come Together To Work For A Solution

Cobra Druliner (left) with his mother Jennifer Miller (center) at In The Flesh Tattoo.

Cobra Druliner (left) with his mother Jennifer Miller (center) at In The Flesh Tattoo.

Oskaloosa, Iowa – A viral video on Facebook brought many different emotions to those that saw it. The video featured 15-year-old Cobra Druliner being struck in the head by another underage male.

Iowan’s came together to show support for Cobra, and to ask what they could do to help prevent such acts of violence or bullying in the future.

Cassandra Hall, a Des Moines area resident, said that she was scrolling through her news feed “and I noticed a video and I watched it. I shared it with my opinions on the post, and somebody commented on there and said they were from Oskaloosa and tagged a family member. I think it was his aunt. So I messaged her, and I asked her if I could pay for a day for Adventureland for Cobra. He had a concussion, so he wasn’t able to go.”

Hall then reached out to Cobra’s mother Jennifer Miller, “she said I could get him a gift or something because I had asked.”

Instead of just giving a gift, Hall reached out to her friends on social media to see if anyone else wanted to donate so he “could have a good summer.”

Those donations ended up totaling $335.00.

Hall says that her brother is autistic and has Aspergers and ADHD, “so right away watching the video, with Cobra’s body language and just what he was doing, I could tell that he was autistic.”

Hall, who had never been to Oskaloosa brought that donated money to town. “I was really nervous.”

Cobra thanked Hall, giving her a hug and posed for a picture with Hall.

In Oskaloosa this week, community members joined Cobra’s friends and family at In The Flesh Tattoo for an event to help bring awareness, talk about the issue, and look towards the future, which may include legislation on bullying.

Westley Vaughan with In The Flesh Tattoo said he opened up his shop and hosted the event to support anti-bullying and to come up with ways to prevent bullying.

Shirts were on sale to help raise funds to bring an anti-bullying seminar and have individuals instruct others on how to combat bullying in the community.

Vaughan said he had been bullied before, “just as much as anybody else has and we all have also played our part in it. There comes a point where you just don’t want that, and when you realize that’s not something fun, and you have the ability to do something about it, you kind of get a fire up under your butt to do something about it.”

Vaughan said that the effort to bring more awareness is a community effort, and not just himself. “There are so many people involved in this; it’s really went to another level.”

Cobra’s mother, Jennifer Miller, spoke with Oskaloosa News about the video. She’s never seen the whole thing. “It just tore me apart. It hurt me bad.”

Miller found out what had happened to her son when she received a phone call from the paramedics that were treating her son.

Miller met the paramedics in downtown Oskaloosa where she was informed that Cobra needed to be checked out.

“Bullying really needs to stop in Oskaloosa,” said Miller. “This is the second time that this kid has beaten up my kid.”

“The bullying is really bad in Oskaloosa, and we’re standing here to get it to stop,” added Miller.

Miller hopes that the attention will help others that are being bullied.

Miller wants the conversation to help lead to solutions like having “safe places to go to and be loved.”

Miller says that Cobra is ok, “but he’s scared and terrified still.”

According to Miller, Cobra has a therapist “because of it all. It was traumatizing to him.”

There have been past efforts in Oskaloosa to bring attention to bullying, including a rally at the end of May 2018 in which less than ten individuals participated.

Tristin Delaney, a senior at Oskaloosa High School, had organized that rally, telling Oskaloosa News at the time, “We see the bullying. We see nothing being done. Why wouldn’t we have a right to talk about the things that are happening to us?”

Delaney faced sharp criticism for her role in organizing the “Oskaloosa High School Walkout”.

“My bullying definitely got worse after I did the [Oskaloosa High School Walkout],” Delaney said. “Except that wasn’t from just kids. That was from adults, too. People were talking about, that they hoped we got ran over, and calling me names … I really took that to heart. A lot of the time I wouldn’t go out to the store or other places.”

The Social Media Club at William Penn University has also held “Break the Wall” events to raise awareness on the impacts that cyber-bullying has on individuals.

Posted by on Jun 21 2018. Filed under Local News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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