Father and son accused of mimicking limp of girl with cerebral palsy

Hope Holcomb, 10, is like any other young girl. She loves to play and to be outside. She also doesn’t let cerebral palsy slow her down. But she says she has been afraid to leave her home in East Sparta, which is South of Canton in Stark County, Ohio, because she says she is being bullied by her 9-year-old next door neighbor and his father.

Hope’s grandmother shot video last week at the bus stop. In it you can see a boy and his father, William Bailey, walking slowly with a limp. “It started last year we had trouble on the bus, she was miserable she didn’t want to ride the bus, cried every morning,” said Tricia Knight, Hope’s mother. ”He treats her like crap, and most recently the dad got involved.”

After watching the video, Hope’s parents, Tricia and Mike, felt they needed to bring the bullying situation to the public’s attention. “It makes me sick too, to think that a grown man would tease a 10-year-old disabled girl that has never done a thing to any of them for no reason, and now she doesn’t want to get on the bus to go to school,” said Mike Knight. The dad in the video, William Bailey, wouldn’t talk, but his wife Vickie says this is a fight between two families and they call each other names.

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“He did get out of the car, you’ve seen the video I am sure, my kid was walking like, but no offence to Hope so why they are taking it that way, I have no idea,” Vickie Bailey said. Both families have filed complaints with the prosecutor’s office. No criminal charges have been filed. The prosecutor says she will review all the reports and meet with the families next week to determine what if any charges should be filed.