Family files complaint after video surfaces of 13-year-old attacked by classmates

CHARLOTTE — Social media video of a fight at a local middle school shows a 13-year-old girl getting beat up by her classmates.

That seventh grader and her mother opened up to Channel 9′s Ken Lemon about their frustrations. They said the fight happened at Albemarle Middle School in east Charlotte one week ago.

13-year-old Crystal Hernandez said the same girls in the video attacked her last month. She said an ER doctor told her then she had a mild concussion.

The recording of the more recent attack already started before Hernandez was attacked -- as if the person recording knew what was about to happen. It took an adult stepping in to break it up.

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Hernandez’s mother, Leticia Velásquez Villagómez, spoke to Channel 9 using a translator. But her tears don’t need translation.

“As a mother, she feels hurt to see that video,” the translator said.

She said there is no video of the attack last month, but she said school officials told her then they were going to do something. Now, she feels ignored.

“She wants justice from the school,” her translator said.

Channel 9 asked Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools about the video Monday and they sent the following statement: “Student confidentiality prohibits the district from discussing incidents involving individual students. All reported claims of misconduct are thoroughly investigated by the school.”

But they aren’t satisfied with what the district has done so far, so Villagómez filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights.

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On its website, the office says its goal is to “ensure equal access to education and to promote educational excellence through vigorous enforcement of civil rights in our nation’s schools.”

Hernandez said she can get over the physical scars from the attack, but the emotional wounds run deep.

“It makes me feel not safe,” the teen said. “They are not doing enough to stop this from happening.”

She said she wishes her attackers would imagine themselves as the victims.

“Would they still be proud?” Hernandez asked.

Hernandez has not been back to class since the attack last week. She and her mother met with the principal Monday. Though she decided she would come back to school Tuesday, the family is still moving forward with their complaint.

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