Girl Attacked On School Bus

Alabama Elberta A biracial middle school student says she was attacked by three high school students. That attack led to a trip to the emergency room allegations of racism and possible criminal charges.

by Debbie Williams

Published: Fri, November 21, 2008 - 5:49 pm CST

One side calls it assault, the other calls it horse play.
The question is, what "did" happen on a Baldwin County school bus earlier this week?
A bus ride home stops first at Elberta Middle School, then Foley High School. On board a 12 year old girl and three high school boys.
What allegedly happened on that bus attorney Robert Stankoski calls, sickening. "My understanding is that these three men basically ganged up on this young lady. Twisted her arm, began punching her arm. It was told to me that someone removed her shoe and actually hit her in the face with her shoe."
The young girl was taken to an emergency room where she was treated for a severely sprained arm.
A police report filed by the alleged victims mother details the incident. What's not mentioned, it may have been racially motivated according to Stankoski. "It's not kids on a bus having a good time. It's sickening and it's gone to the point where their were racial slurs used President-Elect Obama's name was used in context when the assault occurred. It's absolutely unacceptable behavior in today's society."
The school system sees the whole incident differently. "What we've discovered here is we've got four teenagers on a bus horse playing. That's unacceptable but certainly nothing out of the ordinary of teenagers horse playing but we've already addressed that issue." School system spokesman Terry Wilhite says a videotape of the bus ride shows the young girl and three high school boys horsing around. "When they reviewed this tape they reviewed it very thoroughly and what they saw was children on the bus horse playing but nothing out of the ordinary than teenagers horse playing."
Wilhite says all four students were equally involved in whatever happened on the bus.
Stankoski nor Wilhite have personally viewed the videotape. Their information is based on information from school personnel, parents and students involved in the incident. But the bottom line is a young girl is injured. How that happened may still be in question.

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