A five-year-old girl from South Carolina is now scared to ride the school bus after a 17-year-old boy allegedly hit her in the face, said the child’s father.
Terry Peters, the father of five-year-old Jasmine, told NBC affiliate WAGT News, that when he picked up his daughter from the school bus last week he noticed a mark on her face.
“People came out and they began to state to me that she got slapped on the school bus,” said Peters to WAGT. “I’m very upset, I’m mad.”
Surveillance video from the bus appears to show the teen reaching over a school bus seat and using another student’s hand to hit Jasmine on the right side of her face.
“He had reached over that seat and he was telling another girl that ‘if you don’t hit her then I’m going to hit her for you,’” explained Peters.
However, a photo taken by Peters shows the handprint on the left side of Jasmine’s face, making school board officials and police unsure if the boy is responsible for the bruise.
Bamberg District superintendent Phyllis Schwarting told WGAT that the behaviour witnessed on the bus footage isn’t out of the ordinary.
“The behavior on the bus was not any more abnormal than most buses,” Schwarting said.
According to WGAT, the teen was on probation during the time of the incident and has a history of getting in trouble.
A fact that the Peters family lawyer, Charlie Williams, isn’t taking too lightly.
“We’re talking about a kid that’s 17 years old, much larger than this five-year-old child, [with a] history of violence and he’s put on the bus there with her in close proximity,” Williams told WGAT.
Schwarting said it’s not uncommon for different age groups to share a bus in the district.
As of Aug. 30, the teen accused of hitting Jasmine had turned himself in and was granted a $1,000 bond.
His next court appearance is Sept. 26.
Comments