FLORISSANT, MO (KTVI - FOX2now.com) -
It is being called a full on attack. A boy at Hazelwood West High School allegedly beats a girl on board a school bus. The entire incident is caught on surveillance video. The family is calling for the school district to release that video, but they have decided they will not do so.
"It was the most horrible thing I've ever seen in my life," said Crystal Gwaltney reacting after she saw the surveillance video of the school bus attack.
Investigators say a 14 year old Hazelwood West High freshman boy beat Crystal's 15 year old daughter, Tanya, last Friday on the school bus ride home after school. Tanya is a sophomore at Hazelwood West.
"In the video, he takes off his jacket, he takes off his ID and puts it in his pocket and he stands there with his fists clenched waiting for the right moment. And he attacked her from behind. I don't mean he hit her once or twice, he hit her probably 30 or 40 times," explained Crystal. She added, "She had visible swelling and redness to her cheek, her ear, she had lumps all over her head, large lumps."
Crystal wants the surveillance video released to the public. But the Hazelwood School District is refusing. School district spokesperson Diana Gulotta says the boy has been suspended for at least two weeks and could be expelled. But she says releasing the video could violate the privacy rights of all of the students on the bus. Gulotta says that in the wake of now infamous Belleville bus attack, school districts are becoming much more cautious about releasing bus surveillance video.
"Because the tape can be considered an educational record, we have to be very careful about releasing that information improperly or inappropriately," explained Gulotta.
That is little comfort to Crystal.
She says, "I want everybody in this school district and the surrounding school districts to see what's going on in these schools."
Crystal says words were exchanged between her daughter and the boy before the attack started.
Hazelwood Police arrested the boy at school on Monday then released him to his parents. Police have asked for the surveillance video but the district won't even give it to them without a subpoena. Investigators are now trying to get that subpoena.
The case has been handed over to juvenile authorities.
"It was the most horrible thing I've ever seen in my life," said Crystal Gwaltney reacting after she saw the surveillance video of the school bus attack.
Investigators say a 14 year old Hazelwood West High freshman boy beat Crystal's 15 year old daughter, Tanya, last Friday on the school bus ride home after school. Tanya is a sophomore at Hazelwood West.
"In the video, he takes off his jacket, he takes off his ID and puts it in his pocket and he stands there with his fists clenched waiting for the right moment. And he attacked her from behind. I don't mean he hit her once or twice, he hit her probably 30 or 40 times," explained Crystal. She added, "She had visible swelling and redness to her cheek, her ear, she had lumps all over her head, large lumps."
Crystal wants the surveillance video released to the public. But the Hazelwood School District is refusing. School district spokesperson Diana Gulotta says the boy has been suspended for at least two weeks and could be expelled. But she says releasing the video could violate the privacy rights of all of the students on the bus. Gulotta says that in the wake of now infamous Belleville bus attack, school districts are becoming much more cautious about releasing bus surveillance video.
"Because the tape can be considered an educational record, we have to be very careful about releasing that information improperly or inappropriately," explained Gulotta.
That is little comfort to Crystal.
She says, "I want everybody in this school district and the surrounding school districts to see what's going on in these schools."
Crystal says words were exchanged between her daughter and the boy before the attack started.
Hazelwood Police arrested the boy at school on Monday then released him to his parents. Police have asked for the surveillance video but the district won't even give it to them without a subpoena. Investigators are now trying to get that subpoena.
The case has been handed over to juvenile authorities.
