Students ‘disciplined’ after video of local school attack goes viral online
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IDAHO FALLS – Three students were disciplined after a video showing a fight in the hallways at Thunder Ridge High School went viral.
Preslie Bauer, a sophomore at Thunder Ridge, was at school during her lunch hour on Oct. 4 when three girls came up to her and reportedly tried to pick a fight, says Aubree Tinoco, Preslie’s mother.
“These girls were making fun of my daughter’s eyebrows. And my daughter was getting mad about it, and they were trying to get her to go fight them in the locker room at school because there are no cameras,” says Tinoco. “My daughter was like, ‘I’m not going to fight you. I don’t want to fight you.'”
Later on in the day, when school ended, Tinoco says the three girls waited outside Preslie’s classroom to catch her as she was leaving.
“They were waiting for her outside her classroom, and my daughter walked out, and these girls went to grab her backpack, and they missed, and they grabbed her hair and pulled her down to the ground,” says Tinoco.
The video went viral on social media over the weekend and was given to EastIdahoNews.com by the family. In the video, a girl is seen pulling Preslie down to the ground by her hair. The girl then swings at her, hitting her repeatedly in the head.
“(One of the girls) pulled her down to the ground and just started punching her in the face and in the head. Another girl dumped a drink on her, and there were a lot of kids standing around,” says Tinoco. “Nobody was helping her. Everyone was just standing there, recording it.”
In the video, Preslie then gets up and pushes one of her attackers, before being punched in the head and falling on the ground, before the video ends.
According to Tinoco, one of the girls was suspended from school for five days, another one was suspended for four days, and she does not know what the consequences were for the third girl.
Bonneville Joint School District 93 spokesman Phil Campbell says they have a no-tolerance policy for bullying and that appropriate measures were taken.
“The students have all been disciplined. We have a school of 1,700 students, and unfortunately, things like this will happen, but we really don’t have a tolerance for that,” says Campbell. “Those students were dealt with, and the proper policy channels were followed, but we really discourage that kind of behavior, and when it does happen, we’re going to seek justice.”
Bauer was taken to the hospital by her mother after the attack. She suffered a bruised lip, bruises along her hairline, a swollen and bruised forehead, and bumps across her head.
Tincoco says they are working with police to have charges filed against the attacking students. As they are juveniles, no information about the case is available to the public.
“I just want people to teach their kids kindness,” says Tinoco. “And if you see someone getting bullied or beat up, just step in and help, or go tell someone and get help. Don’t just sit and watch and record.
If you think your child is being bullied, contact your school resource officer, or call the police.