Goose Creek Police charge student in fight that sent classmate to hospital

GOOSE CREEK, S.C. (WCSC) - A high school student is facing a criminal charge after a bathroom fight sent a fellow student to the intensive care unit for treatment of her injuries.

The Stratford High School student, whose name and age have not been released by police, faces a charge of assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature, according to an incident report.

Police responded Monday to the school to investigate a reported assault. Police met with the victim of the assault in the nurse’s office. The victim’s mother was also present and initially told police they did not wish to pursue criminal charges for the incident, but said she would take her daughter to an area hospital for medical evaluation and treatment.

Police learned two videos existed of the fight and met with an assistant principal who had obtained one of the videos, the incident report states. The administrator was able to acquire a copy of the second video and sent that to police.

The incident report states video shows the victim walking out of a bathroom stall and shows the attacker pulling the victim’s hair, wrestling her to the ground, getting on top of her and hitting her on the face, head and upper torso. After both stand back up, police said the video shows the attacker pulling the victim’s hair again and violently wrestling her to the ground, which causes the victim’s head to strike the floor.

The report states the victim appeared to have had a loss of consciousness after her head struck the floor.

Police say the student identified as the alleged attacker had already left the campus when police looked for her.

The victim’s mother told police on Tuesday that her daughter had been admitted to the intensive care unit for treatment of “two temporal fractures and blood pooling in her head around the brain area.” The victim’s mother said her daughter was in and out of sedation and that they did wish to pursue criminal charges.

Police were able to reach the mother of the student identified as the alleged attacker and both agreed to meet police at the school, the report states.

Police arrested the student and told her she was being charged in the assault and police took the student to the Goose Creek Police Department without further incident, the report states.

The videos of the fight were secured on a hard drive.

The Berkeley County School District provided the following statement Tuesday:

We are aware of a student altercation at Stratford High. School administration is following all policy and procedure to address the incident, with support from law enforcement. We cannot offer comment on student medical information.

There was no new word on the victim’s condition as of late Tuesday afternoon.

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