School officials respond to video of violent beating on Webster Parish bus

WEBSTER PARISH, La. (KSLA) - The superintendent of the Webster Parish School District has released a statement in response to a video showing a boy beating a girl on a school bus that has circulated social media.

KSLA was sent the video numerous times Tuesday morning by multiple different individuals.

The incident happened the morning of Monday, Oct. 2 around 7 a.m. in Minden.

The video, which is less than 30 seconds long, shows two girls standing up facing each other across the aisle. One girl shoves the other, then a boy pops up from another seat and strikes the girl who was shoved in the face from behind. He continues to strike the girl as other kids begin to scream. He hits her about a dozen times before the girl who did the shoving tries to intervene. The boy shoves her away, then appears to spit on the girl he was striking, and starts to yell at her as she lies on the floor of the bus.

Family members of the girl who was beaten say she attends Webster Junior High, while the boy who assaulted her attends Minden High School. The family also says the girl who was beaten may have made a threat about stabbing someone, which the bus driver reported to the school. The student was then reportedly suspended for that threat. The family then voluntarily took the girl to Brentwood in Shreveport.

The mother of the boy in the video says he was defending his sister, and that the girl he’s seen beating had been threatening them for several weeks. The mother says she has reported these threats to the school. She also says her son was suspended after the incident and can’t return until after fall break. She also claims her son did not spit on the girl.

On Tuesday, Oct. 3, the school district released the following statement about the incident:

And on Oct. 5, the superintendent released another statement, which reads:

“We are aware of the social media postings and news accounts related to a fight between two Webster Parish students. Although student matters are confidential and the specifics of such matters may not be discussed, student safety and student conduct on campus are a priority. Students attending Webster Parish Schools are instructed by professionals who take their responsibilities seriously. For this reason, instances of this nature are disheartening. Again, we are not able to comment on the matter and suggest restraint when trying to reach conclusions from a video.”

Copyright 2023 KSLA. All rights reserved.