Two teenagers accused of beating a disabled student at an Atlanta high school face harsher charges after video of the attack surfaced on social media, Channel 2 Action News reported Tuesday.
The teens were initially suspended for a day and forced to apologize for the Nov. 30 beating by officials at Maynard Jackson High School, the disabled student’s mother, Kimberly Flournoy, told the news station.
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But when video surfaced and showed Flournoy’s daughter being punched, getting her hair pulled and being teased, she demanded harsher punishment.
“(The boy) just turned around and slapped me,” bullied student Jaqueline Flournoy told the news station. “I was like, ‘OK, what just happened?’”
The 18-year-old student told Channel 2 there were two reasons she was attacked: “They didn’t like the (interracial) relationship I’m in and because I’m hearing impaired.”
Atlanta Public Schools have not commented on the video, according to Channel 2, but Kimberly Flournoy said two of the teens, who are brothers, will have a tribunal Wednesday. The teen believed to have recorded the incident could face cyber-bullying discipline, Flournoy said.
The bullied teen said she hopes others in similar situations feel compelled to come forward.
“It shouldn't be happening. If it is happening you should speak up to somebody,” Jaqueline Flournoy said. “I don't want nobody to go through what I'm going through.”
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