New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has ordered a formal investigation into a vicious attack on an African-American student on a school bus earlier this month.
On Wednesday, the Democratic governor said he would direct the state Division of Human Rights to investigate the assault “and, if applicable, to take legal action to the fullest extent of the law against the perpetrators.”
According to court documents, a schoolmate stepped in to protect the victim from further injury during the attack. (Photo: WWNY video screenshot)
Two Gouverneur Middle School students face harassment charges in the incident, in which they’re accused of pummeling their Black classmate and subjecting her to racist taunts. The girls, both white and ages 10 and 11, left their victim with a black eye, bruised knee and chunks of her hair missing.
Court documents show that much of the assault was captured on school bus surveillance video. One of the girls can be heard saying, “N — s always start it” and “I like my people, but I don’t like your people.”
Both are charged with one count of second-degree aggravated harassment, and the 11-year-old faces an additional charge of third-degree harassment as a hate crime.
A school bus monitor, who officials say stood idly by as the attack unfolded, was also charged for her failure to intervene. It was the parents of the 10-year-old victim who alerted officials to what happened.
“I’m appalled by the reports of the horrendous, 20-minute racist assault on a 10-year-old African American girl in the town of Gouverneur,” Cuomo said in a statement. “That this was allegedly perpetrated by her own classmates, on a school bus with an adult monitor present, makes this incident even more shocking and troubling.”
He went on to decry the assault as an “egregious and inexcusable violation” of the trust parents place in school officials when they send their kids off to school.
“In New York, violence of any kind towards others based on their race or religion is not only offensive and repugnant to our values, it is illegal,” Cuomo added.
The alleged assailants and their parents have been referred to St. Lawrence County Probation for further action, local station ABC 12 reported. The case will be handled in family court.
Watch more in the video below.
