'Hit her! It's after school': Parent caught on video encouraging teen to hit another girl
Police in Turlock, Calif., are investigating an after-school fight that took place last Friday between two 13-year-old girls. However, police may be more interested in a mother who appeared to hold the victim while she encouraged her daughter to hit the other girl, saying, “Hit her! It’s after school. It’s after school. You can’t get in trouble.”
Irina Lizarraga Acuna, the mother of the victim, says that she does not hold the teen who hit her daughter accountable, but says she blames the other mother for her actions. She told Fox 40, “It’s horrible for a parent to watch that. It’s awful. You feel really … I feel guilty, you know? I wish I would have been there to help her.”
In the video, which was captured by another student on their cell phone and uploaded to Facebook, the mother can be seen holding the victim while encouraging another teen to hit her.
“In the video, you can see that the teenager doesn’t even want to hit my daughter. She’s being forced by her mom to hit her,” Acuna told the outlet. “You know, I’m not even mad — I can’t be mad at the teenager. I’m mad at the mom. How could you force your daughter to hit someone else?”
Acuna says that the girl in the video has been bullying her daughter on the school bus and that her daughter eventually stood up for herself. “My daughter told her, ‘Stop talking about me. Leave me alone. Stop, you know, calling me names.’ And told the girl she wasn’t afraid of her, to leave her alone, and this is when everything else started,” Acuna told the news outlet.
Turlock Unified School District released the following statement: “Like most who have viewed this video, we were appalled by this attack. We have identified those shown in the video and have shared this information with the Turlock Police Department who are conducting an investigation.”
Despite the parent’s claims that the student could not get in trouble since the fight occurred off campus, the students can still be disciplined, according to the school district.
Acuna told Fox 40 that she is pressing charges against the mother. “She needs to learn her lesson, you know, not to touch anybody else’s kid,” she said.
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