The bullying was an accident
Speaking of ugly climates…there’s this private school in Texas…
The parents of a 12-year-old black girl have sued her Texas school after a group of white classmates allegedly wrapped a rope around her neck and “violently jerked” her to the ground, leaving burns in her skin that are documented in graphic photos included in the complaint.
The incident, which reportedly left the girl with a “severe and painful” rope cut on her neck, has brought national attention to Live Oak classical school, a largely white private school in Waco, Texas, that has been accused of having a history of bullying problems.
The lawsuit filed this week – which seeks damages of $3m for medical bills, physical pain, disfigurement and suffering – alleges that the school was negligent in its failure to protect the girl and in its response to the injuries.
The school has denied the allegations, arguing that the incident was an accident.
White male classmates – they were all boys.
Such a strange accident, a group of boys putting a rope around a girl’s neck and yanking her to the ground.
The suit also claims that a series of bullying incidents precipitated the rope injury.
Starting in the fall, the suit alleges, KP “began to come home with disturbing reports that her classmates did not accept her, would not talk with her, and even physically bullied her”.
One boy pushed her to the ground in the cubby room and kicked and shoved her during a class assignment when a teacher was not looking, according to the complaint. That boy was involved in the rope incident, the suit says.
When the girl’s mother asked Live Oak for help last fall, the “school’s response was that the bullying had been an ‘accident,’ and the boy had not meant to push KP to the ground”, the suit says.
I suppose it was KP’s fault for tipping over so easily.
Other families have come forward to raise concerns about bullying since the story went public, according to the complaint.
Imagine my surprise.
Gee, so many accidents, so coincidentally happening to that one student. I wonder what sort of commonality they might all have…
Any first-year law student could explain that not intending to injure somebody isn’t the same thing as it being an “accident.” We have lots of ways that somebody can still be responsible for their bad actions, even without actual intent: negligence, carelessness, recklessness, to name a few. But I’d say “assault and battery” is still probably a better fit here.
Perhaps the “accidental” part of both incidents was that the perpetrators did not intend to get caught?
Relevance?
Blockquote fail.
Why I question the relevance of gender here is clear racial motivation of the attack. I don’t think the victim would feel any better if it were an all-female group tormenting her, or a mixed M/F mob.
I’m not sure what you mean by “clear.” I don’t see how it’s clear that the motivation was racial and not sex-based. I don’t see how it’s clear that it’s not both, for instance – and anyway whatever the motivation, there’s clearly a whole extra dimension of bullying when it’s a group of boys physically attacking one girl. So the relevance is, at a minimum, that these boys apparently felt no shame about ganging up on one girl to attack her.
I was reading between the lines (Confederate state, rope around the neck). I thought you were presenting this as a ‘here’s a racist thing that happened in America’ thing.
I agree that there’s a “whole extra dimension” when a mob attacks a single person. I’m not sure the gender composition of the mob matters when you’re on the ground and the boots are flying.
@justinr:
While bullying from girls can often be nastier and more persistent than from boys, a girl being bullied by a group of 12+yo boys has the increased physical threat that at least some of the boys are likely to be significantly bigger and stronger than the victim, and there is also the added dimension of the threat of sexual violence.