A 2021 viral Snapchat video showed a Plano boy allegedly bullied into drinking urine. A jury just awarded $3.2M to one of the teens accused of making him drink it.

COLLIN COUNTY, Texas — A Collin County jury has ordered a mother and her attorney, who accused a group of middle schoolers of racially-motivated bullying, to pay $3.2 million to one of the teenagers involved.

The jury found Summer Smith and attorney Kim Cole intentionally inflicted emotional distress and publicized the private information of Asher Vann, now 19, whom they accused of forcing Smith’s son to drink a cup of urine at a birthday sleepover in Plano in February 2021.

A Snapchat video of the incident sparked headlines and outrage nationwide — and led more than $100,000 to be donated to a GoFundMe page Cole created to benefit Smith and her son. 

WFAA is not naming Smith’s son because he was a minor at the time, and he is not named as a party in the lawsuit. WFAA is naming Vann, who said he wants the public to view him based on his words now, rather than his actions in the past.  

“It was immature. It was stupid. It was nasty. But that’s not who I am and that’s not me today,” Vann told WFAA on Thursday.

“This wasn’t me doing a racist act. This isn’t me hating someone because of their skin color. This was me at an immature stage of my life at a sleepover for my birthday, doing immature dumb things,” he said. 

Vann said the public outrage turned his life upside down. “Things are getting better,” he said. “But I don’t feel like I am who I should’ve been at this age because of that.” 

Cole and Smith said they plan to appeal the jury verdict. 

“Defending my son was what I should have done. And I would defend my son still,” Smith said. “I feel that the acts were vile. And I feel like that was my opinion of the act. The urinate in a cup, to put it to someone’s lips to have them drink it, is vile.”

She said she has tried to move on — and her son is doing well, following years of counseling. Smith said she was “saddened” to hear about the harassment Vann said he experienced. 

“I never wanted anyone to threaten anyone at the school or anything. I simply wanted them to be held accountable in the proper way,” she said. 

Cole was not available for an on-camera interview, but told WFAA over the phone, “To me, the entire ruling runs afoul of anything decent or just.” 

She said there was no evidence presented that she disclosed Vann’s private information and said she never once mentioned his name. 

“For him to now try to rewrite history and act like this never occurred is ridiculous,” she said. “I don’t know what’s going on in Collin County, but it’s not justice.” 

Vann’s lawyer, Justin Nichols, said he believes the jury was convinced in part by evidence he presented at trial about how Smith used the nearly $120,000 Cole’s GoFundMe raised.

“The public had been lied to and misled, and when people thought they were giving money to help this kid go to a new school and get some professional help, none of the money was going for that purpose,” Nichols said. 

A copy of the GoFundMe included in the lawsuit asked people to “please donate what they can to help with the expenses of therapy and private schooling.” 

Cole told WFAA, “So what if he never went to private school. Originally, that was the plan.” 

“Did [Smith] use the funds for other things? Of course,” she said, adding that the fundraising page never said the money was only to be used for Smith’s son’s counseling and schooling. 

Smith said a portion of the funds did go toward counseling and schooling for her son. She said the remaining portion was also spent on her son. 

“Anything to be able to help him be able to move forward with life. He went through a traumatic experience, and these people wanted to support him. And so I used it to help him with anything he needed.” 

Smith, who represented herself in the civil case, said she plans to present additional information upon appeal that she said a judge excluded from being included in the initial trial. 

“It was something that happened. It was something that my son was deeply affected by and we wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for the actions that happened to my son,” she said. 

Vann said he does not expect to collect the $3.2 million judgment — and said even though he prevailed in court, the incident has defined his life.

“There was no winner in the end,” he said.Â