The 15-year-old Florida boy who was caught on camera beating a 9-year-old girl inside a school bus last week has been charged with battery, officials said Tuesday.
The video, which was reportedly recorded by a classmate, showed two boys striking the third grader at Coconut Palm K-9 Academy in Homestead, Florida, as she attempted to defend herself against her attackers.
In the almost 30 seconds of footage, nobody intervenes to save the young girl.
After the school’s police officer investigated the incident, the boy was issued a civil citation, which Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle found to be inadequate action after further review, the New York Post reported.
“We believe that, based on the evidence and the circumstances, the use of a civil citation was incompatible with the level of violence displayed by the 15-year-old against his much younger and smaller victim,” Fernandez Rundle said Tuesday. “As a result, we have filed criminal battery charges with our juvenile courts.”
The identity of the teenager remains protected due to his age.
Meanwhile, the victim’s mother previously told Local 10 News that she intended to file charges.
“My goal is not to incriminate any other children,” the mother said Thursday. “My goal is to make sure they have the security for the kids to make sure this doesn’t continue to happen.”
The mom said that her two older kids were also victims of bullying during their time at the school.
Despite complaints, counselors and administrators did nothing to address the situation. The school officials instead advised her to enroll her three children in another school.
The girl’s father also expressed his anger on social media, “I want to set up a rally and confront the school head-on,” he wrote on Facebook. “The lack of security is unreal, and the lack of security on the bus is ridiculous… The bullying must stop!!!”
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