A fourth-grader in west Texas has been suspended, his father says, because he pretended to have a ring like the One Ring from The Lord of the Rings canon, and said it could make a classmate disappear.
Dad Jason Steward said he was told his son's claim amounted to making a terrorist threat.
Steward took his story to the Odessa (Texas) American on Friday, saying the boy had seen The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies the preceding weekend. He brought a ring to class and told another kid it would make him vanish.
When Steward confronted the school principal to ask what was going on, he said he was told that threatening another child's safety — whether the threats are magical or otherwise -—are not tolerated.
Neither the principal nor the district's superintendent would comment on the matter to the Odessa American. The New York Daily News got wind of the story and followed up with the dad.
"I assure you my son lacks the magical powers necessary to threaten his friend's existence," Steward told the News. "If he did, I'm sure he'd bring him right back."
This isn't his son's first scrape with authority; the boy has been suspended three times already, once for calling a black classmate black, the other for bringing a book to school that had a drawing of a pregnant woman. The family moved to the school district six months ago.
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