CUTLER BAY, Fla. – On Savannie Brown’s 15th birthday there was no quinceañera, instead she was subjected to a beat down while riding the school bus home.
It happened on Friday, Feb. 3. Her mother, Johanna Velez, said she felt broken and hopeless.
“Hopeless . . . that I wasn’t there. I couldn’t protect her. My daughter is getting beat like a dog, you know repeatedly getting blows to the head, kicked, hit with a cell phone on her face while administration on the school bus stands around and does nothing about it. Nothing whatsoever.”
The teenager, who is in the eighth grade at Cutler Bay Middle School, has needed to see a doctor numerous times since the incident. Her mother says she has a concession.
Joe Montgomery, the family’s attorney, says it is hard to watch the video. “The brutality,” he said. “These are like ground-and-pound MMA don’t stop until the person is dead.”
Miami-Dade County Public Schools stated that they are reviewing the incident to determine if the bus driver will face disciplinary action after it was discovered that a second person got onto the bus and jumped in on the fight.
“How can it be acceptable to leave the front door of a school bus wide open to allow an assailant to just walk right in and join in on the pummeling of a young student with special needs,” said Montgomery.
Montgomery also stated that what he calls “flawed communication” has forced the child’s mother to go “back and forth” trying to report the crime.
“It should be the easiest thing in the world for a parent to report this assault on their child to law enforcement,” said Montgomery.
The school district stated that Miami Dade Police is the lead investigative agency and the district will not release any information on the other students involved about the other students involved because of federal privacy laws. Velez said her daughter will not be returning to the school.