Family seeks answers about 12-year-old girl killed after school bus dispute
This shouldn’t have happened.
That was the message from attorneys representing Jada West, a 12-year-old Douglas County girl who died less than two weeks ago after an altercation with classmates the family says were bullying her.
The attorneys held a news conference Monday where they said they are trying to gather information from school district officials and law enforcement about the incident. The attorneys said no lawsuit has been filed at this time, but they are seeking accountability.
“We don’t know everything. We know we’ve got a 12-year-old who should be here today,” one of the attorneys, Harry Daniels, who noted he’s related to West, told reporters. “And we want to find out why she’s not here.”
West, a sixth-grader at Mason Creek Middle School, arrived home from school around 5 p.m. on March 5 when a dispute on the school bus with a 14-year-old student turned into a fight, said Villa Rica Police Sgt. Spencer Crawford, a department spokesperson. The fight occurred after the students got off the school bus in her subdivision. West later died from her injuries, Crawford said.
Cellphone video provided by the family’s attorneys shows West falling on her head in the street during the fight and later walking away. An autopsy has not been completed, the county coroner’s office said Monday.
Crawford said Monday the investigation is still ongoing and declined further comment. School district officials did not immediately respond for comment.
West’s attorneys said Monday the family recently moved to the area and made a bullying complaint with the school.
West’s family did not speak at the news conference. The family is making funeral arrangements, a family spokesperson said.
West’s attorneys said one of the things they are trying to determine is what happened on the school bus when the dispute began and could the driver had done anything to prevent the argument from escalating.
“If there’s anything that should have happened that did not happen then we will address that,” Daniels said.
Gerald Griggs, another attorney representing the family, said he’s been pushing for years for Georgia lawmakers to toughen its bullying laws. Griggs said he’d like to see requirements that schools share more information with parents who make bullying complaints once an investigation is completed. He said he also wants to see a law that makes school systems more liable that don’t comprehensively address systemic bullying.
“I’m disheartened that we are here again,” Griggs said.
About the Author
Eric Stirgus joined The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 2001. He currently writes about higher education and has assisted in the newsroom’s COVID-19 vaccine coverage. Born and raised in Brooklyn, N.Y., Eric is active in the Atlanta Association of Black Journalists and the Education Writers Association and enjoys mentoring aspiring journalists.
