A middle school student in Riverside County could be facing misdemeanor assault and battery charges after an alleged unprovoked and violent attack on a sixth-grade girl that was captured on cellphone cameras.
The incident, according to the Riverside Police Department, occurred on Mar. 15 just before 3 p.m. at Arizona Middle School located at 11045 Arizona Ave.
“The fight goes on for about two minutes,” the victim’s mother, identified only as Jazmin, told KTLA’s Shelby Nelson. “Nobody came to help my daughter; no student came to stop this at all. So, she was left alone.”
Footage of the fight, which can be difficult to watch, shows a classmate of the sixth-grade girl step in from behind, pull her back by the hair and start punching her as other students surround them and film the attack on their phones.
“I couldn’t even watch the full video,” Jazmin said. “It was really hard. I just thank God that my daughter’s alive.”
In another video obtained by KTLA, the student that jumped Jazmin’s daughter appears to be preparing for the attack while a friend urges her on.
“I’m scared, my heart is beating,” the girl is heard saying in the video.
“Just fight her,” the friend responds. “She’s not going to do s—t.”
“Should I just start pulling her hair?” the girl replies.
According to the victim’s mother, the classmate confronted her daughter over a boy, but within seconds is seen punching the sixth grader and dragging her on the ground with no school staff in sight.
It wasn’t until later that Jazmin was called into the school’s office where she saw her daughter’s swollen face and clumps of hair that were falling out.
Her daughter, a normally shy honor student, was in tears, she said.
“At that point, I just held her, and I hugged her,” Jazmin said. “I’ve seen multiple things on social media of when kids are brutally attacked, and they’re killed.”
After taking her daughter to the hospital, she filed a police report.
She also contacted administrators to see if her daughter’s attacker would be expelled, but because the other student is a minor, officials said they cannot tell her anything.
“Pretty much just words,” Jazmin said when asked if the district has done anything to make sure her daughter will be safe at the school. “They’re just telling me you can bring your daughter back tomorrow and I can assure you that your daughter’s going to be fine.”
Police confirmed to KTLA that a report about the fight was made and that the girl who initiated it, who could face charges at the end of the investigation, has been disciplined.
In the meantime, Jazmin, who believes there was no one around to protect her daughter, has pulled her from the school.
“I want to see justice,” she said. “I want to justice to be served for my daughter because I feel like it’s another fight and they’re brushing everything under the rug.”
Jazmin said she’d received very few answers from the school or officials at Alvord Unified School District until KTLA decided to report on the story. She has since been informed that her daughter’s attacker is no longer at Arizona Middle School.