An emotional tribute to a 14-year-old football player who died riding his bicycle turned ugly last week in Ohio.
Friday night's North Ridgeville vs. Avon high school football game was played with heavy hearts following the death of Alex Sismour, a freshman on North Ridgeville's team, who was fatally hit on September 10th by a minivan.
Avon was the home team for the game in the suburbs of Cleveland, which was played in Sismour's memory.
Zachary Lane, an offensive lineman for North Ridgeville, told WKYC-TV his teammates had a special tribute to Alex. "Everyone made shirts with his name," Lane said. "Our team dedicated the game to him."
But the evening was tarnished when some Avon High School students allegedly showed up with shirts which had comments mocking the way the boy died.
According to The Morning Journal of Northern Ohio, at least two North Ridgeville students told Avon High principal Kristina Dobos Buller they saw t-shirts stating, "At least I know how to ride a bike."
Three people were seen wearing "mean spirited, homemade shirts regarding the manner in which Alex died," according to a statement by Dobos Buller.
Officials from both schools have been investigating the troubling allegations, which are to this point unconfirmed. And parents from both schools told WKYC they want to see those who wore the offensive shirts punished.
"If somebody did it -- that's horrible," Avon Mayor James Smith told TV station WEWS 5. "And if it's an issue where somebody made a story up, that's bad too."
