She says her son endured things no child should ever have to endure.

Kelly Carroll is a mother in pain.

"I feel like someone has just ripped my heart out - it's what I feel," she says.

Kelly pulled her 14-year-old son out of O'Dea after, she says, a group of bullies tormented her son to the point of his having a breakdown. She says it started with some kids, both black and white, calling him 'Ethie,' short for Ethiopian. It then escalated earlier this month, she claims, to physical abuse.

A Seattle police report reads "The suspects tackled (him) and held him down while (they) struck him repeatedly in the groin area. The suspects have repeatedly called (him) derogatory names and harassed him to the point that he is in fear for his safety and will not return to school."

"I would never, ever want their mother or father to experience what they did to my son," Kelly says.

Kelly did not want us to show her son or name him.

He's now undergoing extensive counseling and she says he is devastated.

He'd always dreamed of attending O'Dea, a school his uncle graduated from in 1990.

But those dreams have been shattered.

"And I'm angry that they felt they had the right to come and take my son's dream away," Kelly says.

O'Dea expelled three students in connection with this case.

We were not able to reach anyone at the school to comment, but in the Seattle Times a letter sent from Principal Dominic Murray to parents read, in part - "It is essential that we maintain a climate of mutual respect and a place where students know they are safe and able to concentrate on learning. Steps determined necessary to insure this will be taken."

Kelly doesn't think anything would have been done if police hadn't gotten involved. She claims the school spent more time trying to protect its image than trying to protect her son.