Gov. Cuomo Orders Investigation Into Attack On African American Girl On School Bus
GOUVERNEUR, N.Y. (CBSNewYork/AP) — Two middle-school students face charges after the mother of a 10-year-old girl reported her daughter was beaten and subjected to racist taunts on a school bus in northern New York.
Gouverneur village police charged two white girls, ages 10 and 11, with harassment for an attack against a 10-year-old African American girl earlier this month, WWNY reported .
The 11-year-old was also charged with assault as a hate crime. The case will be handled in family court.
The 28-year-old bus monitor, who is white, was charged with endangering the welfare of a child for not intervening.
Police said the victim's parent reported the incident on Sept. 10, saying her daughter was beaten on a school bus and subjected to racially motivated language.
The victim suffered a black eye from being punched, a bruised knee from falling backward into the school bus seat and pulled-out hair, police said.
Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Wednesday said he's directing the state Division of Human Rights to investigate the incident "and, if applicable, to take legal action to the fullest extent of the law against the perpetrators."
"I am appalled by the reports of the horrendous, 20-minute racist assault on a 10-year-old African American girl in the town of Gouverneur. That this was allegedly perpetrated by her own classmates, on a school bus with an adult monitor present, makes this incident even more shocking and troubling. When we put our children on the bus to school, we are entrusting others with our most precious resource and this was an egregious and inexcusable violation of that trust," Cuomo said in a statement. "In New York, violence of any kind towards others based on their race or religion is not only offensive and repugnant to our values, it is illegal.
(© Copyright 2019 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)