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SAVANNAH, Ga. () — An Islands High School (IHS) fight captured on video is now going viral, and a parent of one of victims shared his reaction with .
Video from Friday, Aug. 26 at IHS shows two girls shoved to the ground and beaten by two others in the hallway, seemingly caught off guard.
Jeff Donaldson is the father of one of the girls being attacked in the now viral video.
“I’m sickened. It’s extremely painful to watch,” said Donaldson.
He did not want to speak on camera but exclusively share with his account behind the video.
His daughter, a ninth grader at IHS, is identified in the black hoodie and shown being forced to the ground.
He said she and her friend were attacked.
“The assailant who attacked the other girl,” said Donaldson, “She is actually in their class and they know her, and from what I understood they got along well.”
“The girl who attacked my daughter, she does not know,” he said, “She’s never met her, but she knows of her.”
He said he has heard that particular girl had been in trouble for a similar attack in the past.
“My daughter tells me she has a case pending in juvenile court from attacking another girl, maybe last year.”
Donaldson said he believes the attack was premediated because of the nature of the camerawork.
“It was obviously premediated because someone started filming walking up behind my daughter and her friend, obviously the girl filming knew it was going to happen,” he said.
Friday afternoon, Donaldson said he got a call from his son and from an assistant principal at the school, letting him know his daughter was involved in an altercation on school property.
“My son said my daughter called him, said she had been jumped at school, and was very upset.”
His daughter was taken to the nurse’s office, was checked for a minor concussion, and had a visit to the emergency room for internal bleeding.
“They didn’t find any internal bleeding so that’s good. It’s a miracle she was not badly injured.”
Donaldson said his daughter is staying home from school now and is not seriously injured.
What saddens him, he said, is that when his daughter got home Friday she immediately was sent multiple videos of the incident.
“My daughter was receiving videos from other kids as soon as I got her home, meaning there were several taken,” he said.
What also saddens him, he said, was the lack of help.
“You see kids with video cameras instead of helping, especially boys,” he said, “That really disappoints me, that no boy had the guts to step in to try to help.”
“Are the kids cowards,” Donaldson asked. “Are they that desensitized to violence? I don’t know.”
Donaldson said he emailed the superintendent and a board member Friday, and received responses over the weekend.
“They were very apologetic and had a nice reaction, but what I don’t understand is if the attacker, if the girl who attacked my daughter, had already been in trouble for this and has a pending case in juvenile court, why was she back in the school?”
He also said he was disappointed in the lack of adult presence which seemed to be displayed in the hall.
“I don’t think there were classrooms near the part of the hallway they were attacked in, but you’d think there would be teachers available or somebody monitoring, but apparently there was nobody monitoring, because you can hear somebody yelling we need a teacher.”
“If they have fights in the school, which I’ve heard they do, why is there not an officer patrolling or some other sort of protection?” Donaldson continued.
Donaldson told if the attackers are not expelled, his daughter will be taken out of IHS.
“She will not be back at Islands,” he told .
The Savannah-Chatham County Public School System (SCCPSS) has responded to the incident, and said the incident under investigation by the board of education police department, and the students involved will face disciplinary action.
Read the full statement in the above link.