MIAMI (WSVN) - A teen is set to get a lesson in the law, Wednesday afternoon. A 15-year-old boy who is facing battery charges will now face a judge.
Serious actions require serious consequences. That’s the message the state attorney is sending after filing criminal charges against the boy accused of beating a 9-year-old girl on a school bus.
“It’s very sad, it’s painful as a mom to see that, and I’m kind of glad my daughter was smart enough to shield herself because it could have been worse,” said the victim’s mother.
This mother said her daughter still feels the trauma a week later.
“Once it’s mentioned, you could see that she starts to go into this blank stare, and I know its just eating her up,” she said. “She has two nights where she was having nightmares and had to sleep in my bed.”
Authorities said initially that a school police officer investigated and gave the teen a civil citation, but the state attorney didn’t feel that was the right punishment writing in part, “We believe that, based on the evidence and the circumstances, the use of a civil citation was incompatible with the level of violence displayed by the 15-year-old against his much younger and smaller victim. As a result, we have filed criminal battery charges with our juvenile courts.”
The victim’s mother said that during that same violent bus ride, someone also beat up her 10-year-old son.
She said she’s glad something is being done now but is upset there was no intervention sooner.
The kids attended Coconut Palm Academy in Homestead. Their mother has made the school aware of multiple instances of bullying.
Meanwhile, the school released a statement, which reads as follows, “The district supports and respects the role of the state attorney’s office in ultimately reviewing and determining the most appropriate charge for this case.”
The school district said they are reviewing the incident to see if the bus driver will also face disciplinary action.
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