A 13-year-old cheerleader who was filmed screaming in agony as her high school coach forced her to do the splits in a viral video says she is now being targeted by cyber bullies.
Ally Wakefield is one of several girls from East High School in Denver, Colorado, who was filmed being forcibly pushed into the position by coach Ozell Williams in June.
Footage of Ally was shared this week by her family who turned to the media in frustration after the school failed to investigate their earlier complaints.
It shows her screaming and begging for help. Other girls who were forced to do the same exercise cried as Williams pushed them further towards the ground.
Ally Wakefield, 13, says she is being targeted by cyber bullies after appearing in a viral video in which she is forced to perform the splits
Williams, 29, has now been fired from his position. It has since emerged that he lost previous jobs at other schools for forcing other girls into the same position.
Ally told KDVR on Friday that she is now being attacked by cyber-bullies who have told her to kill herself and accused her of faking the injuries she sustained as the video was filmed.
The teenager was training with friends in June when Williams began ‘breaking’ them. The term describes being forced into a painful split.
She asked teammates to film the exercise and later showed the footage to her mother, Kristen.
Horrified by what she’d seen, she sent the footage to the school demanding an investigation.
Weeks past without news until this week when the family gave the footage to local media outlets.
Williams was fired and four other members of staff have been placed on administrative leave.
Since then, it has also emerged that he was previously fired from a different school for using similarly rough teaching methods.
In 2016, he was fired from Boulder High School after a parent complained about the ‘breaking’ technique which he demonstrated in the video of Ally.
Other girls were also filmed being forced into the same position by Williams. They have not been identified
The principal of Boulder High School addressed parents in an email following this week’s scandal, saying Williams ‘unfortunately had connections to our cheerleading squad.’
Williams also lost out on a job at another gym after threatening to punch teenage girls in the face if they did not complete a routine.
‘They would go to do things and if they would stop, like they would go into a tumbling pass and they would stop, and he would be like, “I’m going to punch you in the face,”‘ the gym’s owner, Julie Ledbetter told KUSA.
‘You don’t tell kids you’re going to punch them in the face if they can’t pull the skill,’ she added.
Williams defended the videos to The Denver Post, claiming they had been taken ‘out of context’.
Ally was filmed screaming as coach Ozell Williams held her down along with her teammates
She begged for helped and cried to be allowed back up but was forced to stay in the position
Coach Ozell Williams, 29, was fired after footage of his training sessions emerged
‘You can definitely say that what was in the video could be seen in a different light,’ he said.
‘I would love to tell my story, but I can’t say anything else at this time,’ he said.
Among the staff who were placed on administrative leave from East High School was the principal.
Denver Public Schools superintendent Tom Boasberg called the videos ‘extremely distressing.’
‘We absolutely prohibit any practices that place our students’ physical and mental health in jeopardy,’ Boasberg said in a statement.
‘We do not and will not allow any situation in which a student is forced to perform an activity or exercise beyond the point at which they express their desire to stop.’
East High School in Denver fired the man and has placed four other members of staff on administrative leave