11 year old daughter fought at school, police now involved

[Marcbearpig]

Hello,

My daughter was involved in a fight at school wherein she was defending herself from a boy that was hitting her with a stick. She has retaliated and one of her peers has videoed it but obviously doesn't show her being hit with the stick.

We had a meeting with the parents and all involved were very cooperative and my daughter was aware that her actions had consequences and she was suspended from school. She returned and all was well in the world until we received a phone call from the police!!!

They want her to attend an interview, the officer has assured us it won't take long maybe 10 mins but has also stated that we have the right to have a solicitor present.

Is this normal? She's scared out of her mind over this and obviously the need for a solicitor has worried us as parents

So in fact the film shows her being the aggressor? Did the other pupil admit to hitting her with a stick?

It might be standard process, but the result of looking at it in isolation here is you've got a scared 11year old who was defending herself, is now worried about what might happen, and the available evidence and the system seem weighted against her, not least as the OP didn't jump in and report it, instead just letting it go, thinking it was over.

Thats exactly what I did. I sat down with the parents, very diplomatic with no arguing or shouting. My girl took her licks and I thought that would be the end of it. Stuff like this makes it hard to justify going to the police if they follow up pathetic stuff like this and not follow up actual crimes

There must be more to it, l have never known police and solicitor to get involved in something like this.

Im not going to keep repeating it, going by what OP has said themselves, the footage does not show her defending herself. It shows her attacking someone. Plain and simple.

OP is able to report the original assault if her daugher wants to make a complaint and make a statement.

There definitely isn't. It seems like a waste of time. I'll get a duty solicitor and keep the thread informed

It is a crime though

It's assault

Except the boy did the assault

And you DD defended herself under duress

If they were adults he could go to prison and her not so much

It happens all the time. Its the consequences that have come from formalising everything that kids do. Unfortunately kids fall out and have fights, sometimes they get aggressive with each other

You can contact any local solicitors and they will arrange for someone to be with you at the police station free of charge.

Call police and file a complaint against the boy.

Look all over your daughter for bruises and marks. Take photos. Take her to the GP asap to get the bruises logged by the GP.

Find witnesses to the entire incident.

Ask school for CCTV footage. Be careful that it isn't destroyed on a weekly basis. Do this asap.

Call police to arrange the duty solicitor.

Just as an aside, self defense and retaliation are two different things, but if the boy didn't turn and run after she first punched or kicked, and/ or if he didn't drop the stick, she could say very convincingly that she had every reason to believe he intended to keep on assaulting her if she stopped retaliating.

Was she backed into a corner (and couldnt run away) or had the boy been chasing her to the place where he was beating her?

Was the person who filmed her punching and kicking a friend of the boy's?

When you call the police to file a complaint against the boy, make sure you tell them the boy's family have put the video on the internet.

Make sure to speak to the school tomorrow to tell them to keep any CCTV they may have. Would be a good idea to get a solicitor to write a letter about it. Would be a disaster if it were to be overwritten.

My daughter was attacked at school and they did the police report. Nothing happened to the girl she was back after 3 days and I don't believe it went any further

The school should have multiple witness statements about what happened. Surely they could share these with the police? Was the boy suspended as well? I hope so!

The trouble seems to be that the initial “hitting” with a stick wasn’t recorded. (Hitting? Tapping? Touching? No evidence to say.)
Your child punched and kicked. That’s an assault. Self defence means doing what you can to escape or stop an assault. Not snapping and committing an assault yourself.

Not all schools have CCTV footage and the incident sounds to me as if it was a few weeks back, OPs daughter wont have any marks or bruises on her now.

IMO it says a lot about the parents of the boy.

They have reported it to try and save face.

I unfortunately know this from experience.

As an adult I had to deal with a situation.

It was scary but the duty solicitor was lovely and the interview took all of 4 mins with no action taken as I had provided cctv footage proving the claim to be false.

Dont worry about the interview.

It’s just standard procedure.

Take the duty solicitor.

If you know there are plenty witnesses to the stick part then I can’t see it going anywhere.

I’d talk to the school once this police part is over to make sure their understanding of events is correct and to tell them of the escalation with police incase the school have any further dealings with this boy as at age 11, they have a few years to go!

If it's been reported to the police and the victim/his family want it followed up then the police HAVE to follow it up. Trust me they don't want to be dealing with this anymore than you want them involved.

Ask the officer to arrange a duty solicitor, tell them you will be acting as her appropriate adult. And ask them to take a report for the assault against her. It will be a counter allegation but there's 2 sides to every story and the police are well aware of this.

Most forces would be looking to have this dealt with at the lowest possible level, probably some sort of letter of apology but it might be phrased as something like a community resolution. If she's never done anything wrong before there's no reason it would need to go to court but for it to be dealt with in a restorative justice way she would need to admit the offence and show remorse. Your solicitor will advise you of all the options but try not to stress about it. It sounds like it's been blown out of proportion and the police will want to bring it to a close as much as you do.

If you knew what you were talking about you'd know that's complete bollocks actually

If the parents have shared a video of your daughter without consent on social media, I'd report that to the school. That seems highly inappropriate. Especially if they are asking the police to investigate.

The main thing to find out is did anyone see the boy hit DD with a stick? If so then your DD needs to tell the police and provide the names.

Erm how? The OP’s child has been recorded assaulting someone. Self defence isn’t the same as “snapping” and assaulting someone.

The poster is correct.

Exactly what @mathanxiety said.

Are there any witnesses to your DD being attacked first?

I'd report the video wherever it's shared on social media and get it removed.

Unless OP clarifies, Im guessing there were other kids around, possibly egging one or both of the kids on and then started filming

If it was school CCTV it would have captured the whole thing