Anyone who’s been to high school can probably tell you a thing or two about pranks. After all, they’re a fairly common part of growing up, especially in environments where hundreds, if not thousands, of young people are thrown together.
Yet even though I witnessed my fair share of practical jokes during my school years, I don’t recall ever seeing a prank that put someone’s life at risk.
Call me old-fashioned, but I think there’s a clear, sacrosanct line that shouldn’t be crossed when it comes to pranks that endanger someone. Like, for example, exposing them to something they’re severely allergic to.
That’s exactly what happened at Lake Travis High School in Texas last year, when Carter Mannon’s football teammates decided to sprinkle peanuts in his locker.
Carter’s serious peanut allergy was reportedly diagnosed when he was just nine months old.
“We had him sitting on the counter, and my husband was making a peanut butter sandwich right next to him. Carter reached his hand inside the peanut butter jar and ended up smearing it on himself,” his mom, Shawna Mannon, told PEOPLE in February 2024. “He broke out in hives right away — it was a perfect handprint of hives. And that’s when we realized, ‘Oh, he must be allergic.’”
By being cautious, Carter has been able to live a normal life, and he was thrilled to make the Lake Travis High School varsity football team.
According to Shawna, however, his new teammates — who were fully aware of his peanut allergy — filled his locker with peanuts.
Carter had already experienced a previous incident at school when he accidentally ate a contaminated cookie. That time, he had to take two doses of his EpiPen and go to the ER.
Speaking about the severity of her son’s allergy, Shawna said: “His levels are off the chart. You have this big strong kid, and one little peanut could take him down, could kill him.”
An EpiPen delivers emergency doses of epinephrine during severe allergic reactions, per the Mayo Clinic.
“Anaphylaxis needs to be treated right away with an injection of epinephrine,” they note. “If it isn’t treated right away, it can be deadly.”
Carter accidentally eating a contaminated cookie was a frightening reminder of his vulnerability. What his teammates allegedly did, however, is something else entirely.
Shawna explained: “They were kind of joking around about it and they said, ‘But could it kill you if it touched you?’ And he says, ‘Yeah, it absolutely could.’ If it got in his nose, eyes, or mouth, that’s when he would go into anaphylactic shock. And so he told them, ‘Yes, it could absolutely kill me.’”
“Then, the next day before the game, they went in and had put peanuts in his locker, on his jersey, and in his cleats.
“It was a can of peanuts that they scattered throughout his locker and put in his cleats.”
Carter reacted immediately, developing hives on his arm. Incredibly, the boys involved faced no real discipline beyond being benched for two days, switching locker rooms, and doing extra runs at practice.
Instead, Shawna says Carter faced backlash.
“There was a lot of verbal retaliation…,” she said. “At one point, someone in the locker room put a peanut butter granola bar in his backpack.”
The concerned mom went to the school board to report the peanut incident. She was told it did not qualify as bullying.
A Lake Travis Independent School District representative told PEOPLE: “Under the Texas Education Code, bullying is a very specific behavior, and is defined as an act or pattern of acts that physically harms a student or materially and substantially disrupts the educational process. Upon concluding our investigation, it was determined that the legal elements of bullying were not met.”
Carter eventually transferred to another school.
What would you do if your child were subjected to something like this? Let us know in the comments.
