Education Lawsuit Over Viral Skull Crusher TikTok Challenge

A Fort Worth family has filed a lawsuit over the skull crusher TikTok challenge, accusing All Saints’ Episcopal School of ignoring repeated bullying warnings before three students lured their 16-year-old son into a hallway, kicked his legs out from under him mid-jump, and left him with fractured vertebrae, a spinal cord injury, and temporary paralysis. James Fulton filed the suit in Tarrant County District Court on May 26, 2026, seeking more than $1 million from the private school.¹

What Happened to the Student

On May 7, 2026, during the lunch period, three classmates asked the teen to help film a video in a hallway and told him to jump. As he did, they kicked his legs out. He landed on his thoracic spine, struck his head, and lost consciousness for several minutes.²

When he came to, he could not feel his feet, his speech was slurred, and he reported double vision. He had fractured three vertebrae in his thoracic spine and sustained a severe concussion and spinal cord injury. The lawsuit alleges the students who caused the fall mocked him afterward and filmed him for social media.¹

What the School Allegedly Knew Beforehand

The complaint says the Fulton family met with All Saints administrators at least three times before the assault to raise concerns about bullying directed at their son. At the most recent meeting, roughly two months before the incident, the parents asked whether the school could keep him safe and warned that the bullying would “escalate to violence.”²

The suit also alleges the same three students had pulled the skull crusher prank on other students six or seven times before, with earlier incidents captured on school security cameras, and that no one intervened. No faculty members were stationed in the hallway during lunch when the assault took place.¹²

According to the complaint, Head of School Wallace Worden went to the Fulton home uninvited the Saturday after the assault and told the family, “This is my fault. I knew this culture was at our school, and this is on me.”²

How Staff Allegedly Responded After the Fall

The aftermath is central to the family’s case. The lawsuit alleges the head athletic trainer and other staff moved the teen without a neck brace or spinal board and made him stand and walk despite fractured vertebrae. He was taken to a converted closet because, the suit says, the Upper School has no nurse’s office. A school nurse allegedly asked whether his slurred speech and double vision were his “baseline.” An ambulance was not called for roughly 45 minutes.²¹

What the Family Is Asking For

All Saints’ Episcopal School is the sole defendant. The complaint asserts negligence and breach of the school’s in loco parentis duty, the legal obligation to act in place of a parent while students are in its care. The family is seeking monetary relief exceeding $1 million, plus actual damages, exemplary damages, court costs, and pre- and post-judgment interest at the maximum legal rate. They have requested a jury trial and invoked Level 3 of the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure, reserved for complex or high-value cases.¹

The Fultons are represented by attorneys Mollie and Boston Mallory. No criminal charges against the three students involved have been publicly reported.²¹

What the School Has Said

All Saints’ Episcopal School spokesperson Megan Fuhrman said in a brief statement: “All Saints’ Episcopal School is aware of the lawsuit. However, we have not yet been served and do not comment on pending litigation.” The school has not publicly addressed the specific allegations. As of late May 2026, it had not been formally served with the complaint.²

What the Skull Crusher Challenge Is

The prank, also called the skull breaker challenge or tripping jump challenge, went viral on TikTok around early 2020. Three people stand side by side; the two on the ends trick the person in the middle into jumping, then kick that person’s legs out mid-air, causing a hard backward fall. Injuries reported around the world have included concussions, skull fractures, and intracranial bleeding, and the stunt has produced criminal charges as well as civil suits.³

In a widely reported January 2020 case in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, a 13-year-old boy suffered a major concussion and a seizure after classmates performed the stunt at school. Two students were charged with third-degree aggravated assault and third-degree endangering an injured victim.⁴ In Florida, the family of a 13-year-old who broke his arm in a skull breaker incident at a Boca Raton middle school sued the Palm Beach County School District for negligent supervision.⁵

1
CBS News Texas. Fort Worth All Saints Episcopal Lawsuit Skull Crusher TikTok Challenge
2
Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Bullies at Fort Worth Private School Lured Teen Into Skull Crusher TikTok Challenge
3
BBC. TikTok Skull-Breaker Challenge Warning Issued
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NBC News. TikTok Skull Breaker Challenge Lands New Jersey Boy in Hospital
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WPBF. Florida Palm Beach County TikTok Skull Breaker Challenge Lawsuit