School advised assaulted girl's father not to call police
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
Associated Press
Columbus- A 16-year-old girl was punched and forced to perform oral sex on at least two boys in a high school auditorium as dozens of students watched, according to student witness statements.
Mifflin High School officials who found her bleeding from the mouth on March 9 did not call police, and an assistant principal cautioned the girl's father against calling 9-1-1 because the media might get involved, according to statements from school officials obtained by The Columbus Dispatch.
But the girl's father insisted on calling police and contacted them later that afternoon.
Part of the alleged assault was videotaped by a student with a camera he had for a school project, according to the statements provided Monday by the district.
The assistant principal who argued against calling the police was suspended without pay, along with two other administrators, and will be reassigned.
In the statements, which have students' names blacked out, one student said the boys told the victim: "If you scream, I'll have all my boys punch you."
Someone then "punched her in the face and she dropped to her knees," the witness said.
The district has said that four boys were under investigation for suspected involvement in the case and had been sent home. The boys still are not in school, Andrew Marcelin, a Columbus schools spokesman, said Tuesday.
One witness told investigators he looked for a school security guard but could not find anyone.
"We went back to the auditorium; the victim was 'butt naked,' " the witness said, and someone "was on top of her."
The attackers then ran from the scene, and witnesses helped the girl get dressed before taking her to a security employee, who is not a police officer.
The girl "looked dazed and confused and was crying," special-education teacher Lisa Upshaw told an investigator.
The victim's father, whom the newspaper did not identify, said his daughter is developmentally disabled. Another special-education teacher said in her statement that the girl has a severe speech impediment and can be difficult to understand.
After school officials had known about the attack for an hour, Assistant Principal Richard Watson watched the video.
Upshaw called the victim's father, who immediately demanded that police be called when he joined his daughter in Watson's office.
"Mr. Watson said, 'No, we don't want to do that; we don't want the police,' " Upshaw told the investigator.
Superintendent Gene Harris said it would be extremely inappropriate for a district employee to dissuade someone from having police investigate.
Watson and two other assistant principals were suspended without pay for 10 days and will be assigned to different schools when they return.
© 2005 The Plain Dealer. Used with permission.
