A 13-year-old girl in Texas was allegedly attacked during her bus ride home from school last month.
Police are investigating after the middle schooler in Denton was allegedly attacked by another student and an adult. Speaking with CBS News Texas, the unnamed girl recalled being threatened by the other girl before the incident on April 23.
“She said if I didn’t keep her name out of my mouth, then she was going to beat me up,” said the girl, whom the outlet called “Nicole” for the purpose of anonymity.
Later in the day, when both girls were on the bus on the 1600 block of East McKinney Street, Nicole said that her classmate hit her in the back of the head after she refused to get off the bus and fight her. Soon after the altercation began, she realized that the other girl’s mother had joined in when she heard her call out “Mom.”
In a video obtained by CBS News Texas, a person can be seen dragging Nicole by her hair and hitting her while she lies on the ground outside the school bus. In another clip, two people can be seen hitting Nicole as she sat in a seat on the bus.
According to a statement from the Denton Police Department (DPD) obtained by PEOPLE, the bus driver called 911 to report the assault just after 4 p.m. local time.
Nicole told CBS News Texas that although her classmate and the adult woman got off the bus and left her alone momentarily, they followed the bus in their car to attack her when she got off at her stop. Nicole’s mother called 911 to report the attack on her daughter at around 4:15 p.m., DPD said.
“Responding officers located an injured 13-year-old girl, who was evaluated by medics and was not transported to the hospital,” DPD said in its statement.
“I didn’t deserve it,” Nicole told CBS News Texas of the attack. “I don’t think no kid deserves to go through anything like that.”
Nicole’s mother also alleges that the bus driver failed to stop the attack.
“Had he locked the door, called for help, waited for the police to arrive, those grown adults wouldn’t have been able to get on a bus, assault my child, and they wouldn’t have been able to follow the bus and continue assaulting her,” Nicole’s mother told CBS News Texas. “And then while [the adult] was out there fighting her … he just drove off.”
Speaking with the Denton Record-Chronicle, Denton Independent School District officials could not offer specifics about repercussions for the student involved in the attack due to privacy laws, but noted that one student won’t be allowed return to the middle school’s campus.
“This horrible video depicts unacceptable conduct Denton ISD never condones, including an adult unlawfully boarding a school bus,” reads a statement from the school district sent to the Denton Record-Chronicle and CBS News Texas. “The altercation involved a conflict that began in a neighborhood and spilled over onto school property, which was the school bus.”
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“Per district policy, the driver immediately called dispatch and requested law enforcement,” the district’s statement continued. “Drivers are not authorized to use their personal cellphones while on the bus to ensure safety.”
According to DPD, the case is being investigated as an “injury to a child” by the department’s Special Victims Unit.
“While an arrest has not been made at this time, investigators have identified the adult suspect and continue to follow up on the case,” DPD said in its statement. “Another update is expected in the next few days.”
