Parents expect schools to protect their children, especially when those children are already injured and vulnerable.
But at Truett Wilson Middle School in Haslet, Texas, one mother says the staff failed her son—and then tried to cover up what happened.
On September 29, 2025, what was supposed to be a normal fall afternoon turned into a frightening experience for Robert, a young football player recovering from a dislocated elbow.
His mother, Mrz Haswell, followed her usual routine: she waited in the school parking lot around 3:40 p.m. for her children to be released at 4:15.
Robert had only played two games that season before a severe elbow injury forced him into a cast and sling.
Despite the setback, he still showed up for his team and did everything he could to stay involved.
That afternoon, Robert finally reached the car around 4:20 p.m. He immediately told his mother that the football coach would probably be calling her—and then revealed what had happened earlier that morning in the locker room.
Robert explained that an 8th-grade football player—a boy nearly 6’0 to 6’1 and between 180 and 190 pounds—began pushing him even after he asked him to stop.
Robert, who stands 4’7 and weighs about 105 pounds, could not defend himself. With his arm in a cast, he was completely vulnerable.
The older, much larger student shoved Robert across the locker room, slamming him into a metal locker and causing a painful hip injury.
Robert said all he could do was ball up and try to protect himself.
Despite the severity of the incident, no staff member notified his parents that morning.
The first contact from the school came only after Robert had already told his mother everything.
Infuriated, Mrz Haswell informed the staff member that she wanted to press charges for bullying and assault causing bodily injury.
Still seated in the parking lot, she gathered her four children and two others she drives home and walked into the school to confront administrators directly.
She spoke with the 8th-grade assistant principal and the head coach, both of whom acknowledged the incident but told her she would have to follow up with the school’s resource officer.
Unfortunately, the officer was unavailable; he had already left for the day.
That evening, still determined to protect her son, she contacted the Fort Worth Police Department.
Officers told her she was within her rights to file charges—but needed to do it through the school resource officer.
On September 30, she and her husband waited at the school before classes began.
When the resource officer finally arrived, she emailed him the full account along with photos of Robert’s bruises.
He replied that the injuries were significant enough to proceed with charges and provided a report number: FWPD RPT# 250073244. He stated he would finish the report after collecting statements.
But according to Haswell, the report was never completed.
By November, the family was still getting the runaround. The 8th-grade student who injured Robert remained at school and continued playing on the football team as if nothing had happened.
When they contacted the officer’s supervisor, they learned that the officer had claimed the boys were “horsing around” and that Robert had simply tripped over a bench—a story completely different from the one both the mother and her child described.
Even more concerning: there was no report on file at all. No statements, no investigation, nothing for the family to even review.
Haswell says this is part of a larger pattern at the school. She pointed out that Truett Wilson Middle School previously faced accusations of trying to cover up a “death list” incident two years earlier before the truth came out.
When Haswell reached out again—this time to FWPD—she was told she should have filed the report directly with them.
She explained that another officer had instructed her to go through the school resource officer.
Now, she is waiting on a callback from a lieutenant to determine the next steps.
The family believes Truett Wilson Middle School failed to protect Robert, failed to communicate, and failed to take action against a student who seriously injured a younger, medically vulnerable child.
Haswell says she tried to handle the situation the right way:
“I totally could have went old school and let my boys pounce on that 8th grader, but I’ve been trying to do the right thing.”
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But the lack of cooperation—and the school’s insistence that staff are “right 9 out of 10 times”—has pushed her patience to the limit.
Haswell ends her account with a warning:
“Parents, check on y’all babies. Adults are not always right. Protect your babies. You have no idea what’s going on behind closed doors.”
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She continues to pursue justice for Robert as she waits for authorities to finally take action and document the incident that left her son bruised, frightened, and unsupported.
