Friends and family held a “show of support” outside of Potomac High School after a girl was jumped and beaten on her way to cheerleading practice. News4’s Derrick Ward reports.
A 14-year-old girl was jumped and beaten on her way to cheerleading practice last week at her Maryland high school, her mother told News4.
Juanita Caldwell says her daughter was assaulted by a group of students at Potomac High School in Oxon Hill.
“My daughter had a knot on the left side of her face,” Caldwell said. “On the right side, her eye and nose were, like, collectively swollen together. Maybe, like, just smooshed in together. It was blood all over her face; blood all over her jacket.”
Some of the attack was captured on cellphones by students who watched.
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Potomac High School security responded and dispersed the students, Prince George’s County Public Schools officials said.
But Caldwell said her daughter was jumped again near a utility room afterward, sustaining injuries that required her to be taken to a hospital.
Caldwell said it’s been made worse by hearing this week that the students involved remain at the school.
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“I want Potomac High School to expel these students for viciously attacking my child,” she said.
As of Monday from a call with school officials, Caldwell said that the students were expelled but to her, more needs to be done.
"No charges have been brought against these children and I want them arrested immediately," Caldwell said.
PGCPS officials confirmed a student was injured at Potomac High last week. They said they can release very little information due to juvenile privacy laws.
“School district administrators are in contact with the student’s family, and we are working to provide any necessary mental health support to the victim,” PGPCS said in a statement. “The incident is under active investigation.”
Friends and family of the 14-year-old held a show of support for her at Potomac High School in Oxon Hill on Monday morning.
Despite the fact her daughter loves her classes and activities at Potomac, Caldwell does not feel safe allowing her to return.
“Even the day of the attack while she’s in the hospital, she’s asking the doctor when she’s going to be able to go back to cheerleading practice,” she said.
Caldwell said she has been contacted by the Prince George’s County State’s Attorney’s Office but does not know if the students involved will face any criminal charges.
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