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MIAMI (AP) - January 8, 2012 (WPVI) -- Seven central Florida teenagers were arrested after authorities said they punched and kicked a 13-year-old until she was unconscious while on a school bus.
The victim told authorities that Friday was her first time riding the bus and no one would let her sit down. About 75 children were riding the bus bound for a middle school in Ocala, a rural city north of Orlando. The victim said someone threw a shoe at her and she threw one back, according to an arrest report.
One girl allegedly asked students if they wanted to hit the victim, then instructed the teens to form a circle and began hitting and kicking the victim. Several witnesses said they saw the girl fall to the floor and "appear to have a seizure and pass out," according to the arrest report.
The victim, who is not being identified, was taken to the hospital and diagnosed with a concussion, severe bruising on her head and muscle spasms.
Seven teens, ranging in age from 12 to 15, were charged with battery and disorderly conduct. The Associated Press is not identifying the suspects because they are minors.
The school's bus driver said he saw the fight and pulled the bus over to intervene. The fighting ceased, so he continued driving, but he told authorities the fight broke out again and he couldn't control it so he drove to a nearby school and called officials.
Authorities interviewed all the students on the bus. Ten students said they saw the seven "commit battery upon the victim as a group," according to the report.
One suspect admitted kicking the victim, but said it was an accident. A few claimed they hit her and several others denied it.
Deputy Shannon Wiles wrote in the report that one 14-year-old girl climbed over several seats filled with students to get to the victim and "advised she punched the defendant repeatedly in the head, approximately 10-15 times because the victim called her a name."
School officials said it's unlikely the defendants will be allowed on campus until their cases are resolved.
The Ocala Star-Banner, which first reported the fight, said school discipline rules call for the students to be expelled or reassigned to another school, according to Marion County Public Schools spokesman Kevin Christian.
The victim told authorities that Friday was her first time riding the bus and no one would let her sit down. About 75 children were riding the bus bound for a middle school in Ocala, a rural city north of Orlando. The victim said someone threw a shoe at her and she threw one back, according to an arrest report.
One girl allegedly asked students if they wanted to hit the victim, then instructed the teens to form a circle and began hitting and kicking the victim. Several witnesses said they saw the girl fall to the floor and "appear to have a seizure and pass out," according to the arrest report.
The victim, who is not being identified, was taken to the hospital and diagnosed with a concussion, severe bruising on her head and muscle spasms.
Seven teens, ranging in age from 12 to 15, were charged with battery and disorderly conduct. The Associated Press is not identifying the suspects because they are minors.
The school's bus driver said he saw the fight and pulled the bus over to intervene. The fighting ceased, so he continued driving, but he told authorities the fight broke out again and he couldn't control it so he drove to a nearby school and called officials.
Authorities interviewed all the students on the bus. Ten students said they saw the seven "commit battery upon the victim as a group," according to the report.
One suspect admitted kicking the victim, but said it was an accident. A few claimed they hit her and several others denied it.
Deputy Shannon Wiles wrote in the report that one 14-year-old girl climbed over several seats filled with students to get to the victim and "advised she punched the defendant repeatedly in the head, approximately 10-15 times because the victim called her a name."
School officials said it's unlikely the defendants will be allowed on campus until their cases are resolved.
The Ocala Star-Banner, which first reported the fight, said school discipline rules call for the students to be expelled or reassigned to another school, according to Marion County Public Schools spokesman Kevin Christian.
The story is shocking enough, even without bringing race into it: on the way to school in Ocala, FA, a thirteen-year-old girl was beaten unconscious and reportedly went into a seizure after being attacked on the school bus by a group of fellow students.
The girl reportedly was riding the bus for the first time. Someone threw a shoe at her, and she threw it back, hitting a student. That's when the beating began. At least seven students surrounded the girl, punched her, held her head to the floor by her hair, and kicked her. The bus driver pulled the bus over, stopped the beating, and then continued driving. But the beating started again, so the driver diverted to a nearby school and called officials, and the girl was taken to the hospital.
Aside from the brutality, there was another troubling fact about this crime -- a fact that predictably did not make it into the news: the attackers were black, and the victim was white. Yet, for the first few days after the attack, not a single news outlet reported on the race of the victim. Since the attack occurred, only one news item has even indirectly mentioned the victim's race. This can't be because the information was hard to come by. The Ocala Sheriff's Office responded to my inquiry about the victim's race within hours.
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The girl reportedly was riding the bus for the first time. Someone threw a shoe at her, and she threw it back, hitting a student. That's when the beating began. At least seven students surrounded the girl, punched her, held her head to the floor by her hair, and kicked her. The bus driver pulled the bus over, stopped the beating, and then continued driving. But the beating started again, so the driver diverted to a nearby school and called officials, and the girl was taken to the hospital.
Aside from the brutality, there was another troubling fact about this crime -- a fact that predictably did not make it into the news: the attackers were black, and the victim was white. Yet, for the first few days after the attack, not a single news outlet reported on the race of the victim. Since the attack occurred, only one news item has even indirectly mentioned the victim's race. This can't be because the information was hard to come by. The Ocala Sheriff's Office responded to my inquiry about the victim's race within hours.
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