Man Sentenced To Hold 'I AM A BULLY' Sign

An Ohio man learned the the hard way Sunday that when you harass a mother and disabled child, the world doesn't smile upon you. Municipal Court Judge Gayle Williams-Byers ordered Edmond Aviv to sit himself down on a trafficked street corner, brandishing a handwritten sign proclaiming "I AM A BULLY." This is part of a February misdemeanor conviction for fifteen years of harassing Aviv's neighbor, Sandra Prugh.

After Aviv settled in for the start of his five-hour stint, it only took minutes for a passing car to honk at the hopefully-chastened 62-year-old. Court records indicate that Aviv embarked on a 15-year feud with Prugh, embarking on increasingly bold and disgusting measures to denigrate the woman and her family.

Prugh has two adopted, adult children with cerebral palsy and epilepsy, a biological son who is paralyzed, and a husband suffering from dementia. To Aviv, this apparently looked like a prime opportunity to stigmatize and attack, and he did so in gross fashion, according to a letter Prugh wrote to the court.

She detailed how Aviv hurled an ethnic slur at her while holding one of her adopted black children; spit on her on multiple occasions; and smeared dog feces on a wheelchair ramp and her son's car. Why did he feel such disdain? That's unclear, although the straw that broke the proverbial camel's back came when, in response to the smell of laundry wafting from her home into his, Aviv decided to hook up a fan to some kerosene and blow the foul smell back her way.

In addition to court-mandated anger management, Aviv was forced to write a letter to Prugh. This read in part:

I want to express my sincere apology for acting irrationally towards your house and the safety of your children. I understand my actions could have caused harm but at that time I was not really thinking about it.

But the apology was too little, too late to avoid his public shaming. Aviv pleaded no contest, and received the order to endure his public shaming. The sign he was made to hold didn't stop just at labeling him a bully, either — it specifically called out his behavior towards Prugh's developmentally disabled children.

I am a bully I pick on children that are disabled, and I am intolerant of those that are different from myself. My actions do not reflect an appreciation for the diverse South Euclid community that I live in.