CHARLOTTE (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — The family of an Ardrey Kell High School athlete is denying claims that an alleged attack on another student was motivated by hate and stating that the girl attacked their son first.
According to the family of the female student, the incident happened on March 7 in math class when the male student, a football player, verbally attacked the female student with racial and religious slurs before punching her several times in the head and face.
PREVIOUS | FBI takes over investigation of alleged hate-fueled attack at Ardrey Kell High SchoolHowever, the family of the male student sees this as a mischaracterization of the situation, stating that race, religion or culture were not factors and that no derogatory terms were used. They continued that the female student continually bullied their son, leading to her attacking the boy first.
The male student reportedly spent almost ten minutes trying to de-escalate the situation and, the family says, was forced to defend himself.
"While we don’t condone physical violence, we also don’t condone our son being physically assaulted by anyone," said the family.
Following the incident, the female student's family and the Islamic Center of Charlotte held a press conference requesting for the incident to be investigated as a hate crime.
“She’s going to have to have reconstructive surgery, metal plates in her face,” said Jibril Hough, a spokesperson for the ICC and family.
When asked about reports that the girl hit the boy first, Hough told Queen City News, “I can’t confirm or deny that, but I can say this — if a girl punches me, I’m not going to beat her halfway to death."
The boy's family went on to say that attempts to mediate the situation have been ignored and claimed that the girl's family is trying to use their son as leverage. The boy's family continues that they have been threatened and harassed over the situation.
Both students were suspended following the incident. The girl's family has their first court date on Thursday, April 3, to consider a restraining order.
Student to face charges after viral video shows attack on classmate at Gaston County schoolCharlotte Mecklenburg Police have turned the investigation over to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
The full statement from the male student's family is below:
As a family, we have remained silent, hoping the evidence will eventually speak for itself concerning the incident that occurred at Ardrey Kell High School on March 7. However, as false narratives continue to circulate, we have decided to end our silence today. This situation has been mischaracterized, as race, culture nor religion played a factor in the altercation. Instead, there was direct, incessant bullying by a female student which led to her physically assaulting our son. Despite his witnessed attempts to de-escalate her threatening actions for nearly ten minutes, she still chose violence - making it necessary for him to defend himself. As a family of color who works to raise our children with strong moral values, we can say with confidence of our son and from witnesses that no racially derogatory terms were used during this encounter, and the altercation was fully instigated by the female student. While we don’t condone physical violence, we also don’t condone our son being physically assaulted by anyone. However, what was ultimately a classroom fight between two students is now being positioned publicly as an opportunity by the female student’s family - using our son as leverage. Even as attempts have been made to mediate the conflict through mutual parties, those attempts have gone ignored while they continue to fuel a false narrative. As a result, not only has our son become collateral damage, but our family is also being harassed and threatened because of these mistruths. Nonetheless, we are thankful to the Charlotte Mecklenburg School District and the teachers and students for their support and willingness to come forward with witness statements. While we’re still working to gather this information for legal proceedings, it has allowed us to help uncover the truth about the incident. We are also grateful to the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department for their support and protection of our family, and the Fruit of Islam and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg chapter of the NAACP who’ve worked to mediate the situation. While our faith in humanity is being tested, our faith in God keeps us grounded as a family, and we know that the truth will prevail.
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