Witnesses: Teen Punched In Face, Forced To Perform Sex Act
Alleged Assault Videotaped
POSTED: 11:16 am EDT April 12, 2005
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- 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 did not call police, and an assistant principal cautioned the girl's father against calling 911 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, said the statements provided Monday by the district.
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, and had been sent home, for suspected involvement in the case. The boys still are not in school, Andrew Marcelin, a Columbus schools spokesman, said Tuesday.
One witness looked for a school security guard but could not find anyone, he told investigators.
"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.
In his statement, Watson said he told the father to "go ahead and call," but not to call 911 because the "news channel might tape his daughter and cause her further mental trauma."
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.
The Columbus School Board placed Mifflin Principal Regina Crenshaw on unpaid leave April 5 while it begins terminating her contract. Crenshaw was present when the alleged assault was reported yet failed to call police, Harris said.
No one answered Tuesday at a phone number listed under Watson's name in Columbus, and Crenshaw declined comment.
The assault allegations are expected to be turned over to prosecutors this week.
Witnesses: Teen Punched In Face, Forced To Perform Sex Act
Alleged Assault Videotaped
POSTED: 11:16 am EDT April 12, 2005 COLUMBUS, Ohio -- 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 did not call police, and an assistant principal cautioned the girl's father against calling 911 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, said the statements provided Monday by the district.
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, and had been sent home, for suspected involvement in the case. The boys still are not in school, Andrew Marcelin, a Columbus schools spokesman, said Tuesday.
One witness looked for a school security guard but could not find anyone, he told investigators.
"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.
In his statement, Watson said he told the father to "go ahead and call," but not to call 911 because the "news channel might tape his daughter and cause her further mental trauma."
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.
The Columbus School Board placed Mifflin Principal Regina Crenshaw on unpaid leave April 5 while it begins terminating her contract. Crenshaw was present when the alleged assault was reported yet failed to call police, Harris said.
No one answered Tuesday at a phone number listed under Watson's name in Columbus, and Crenshaw declined comment.
The assault allegations are expected to be turned over to prosecutors this week.
"Mr. Watson said, 'No we don't want to do that, we don't want the police,"' Upshaw told the investigator. - Sound familiar?