LARGO, Fla. (WFLA) – Video shows a student pulling Michaela Layne to the ground in Largo High School’s media center. The violent takedown was recorded with a phone.
“The girl came up to me. Grabbed me by my hair, pulled me to the ground and just started hitting me. I didn’t hit her back. I got up off the ground and I called her some names again and then I walked out, and I was like, ‘I’m not fighting you in school,'” Layne said.
Resisting the urge to fight back, she walked away. “And then I kept walking, and then she came up behind me again, after we were in the courtyard, and hit me again,” Layne said.
The fight was quickly posted to Facebook.
“I just find that its disruptive to the school in general and also to the children’s lives. I mean, not only are they being victimized from whatever happened, but now, they’re gonna be victimized online as well,” Layne’s Mother, Summer Queen, said.
Also maddening to both, a school staffer is seen in the video. That staffer appears to stand and watch the whole thing go down.
Layne said she’s argued with her attacker before, over a boy. She promised her dad she would not fight back if hit.
“I ended up trying to swing on her. I missed. Cuz she like, ducked. And so I just stopped and kept walking and then she hit me again,” Layne said.
Some of the Facebook posts about the incident include racial insults.
Others support Layne’s decision to not fight back. Others encourage the girl to deck the other student.
Layne’s mother knows what she wants Largo High School administrators to do; “Either expel the child or have her reassigned to a different school,” Queen said.
Layne and her parents are planning to enroll in the Florida Virtual School program if the attacker is allowed to return to class.
A Pinellas County School District spokesperson said officials are aware of the incident. Largo police are investigating. The district will follow the “code of conduct” when deciding what will happen to the hair-pulling student.
