Racially Motivated Bullying Or Mere Accident? Texas Mother Files Lawsuit After Her Black 12-Year-Old Daughter Came Home From School Outing With Severe Neck Burn

A Texas mother filed a lawsuit against a private school after her black 12-year-old daughter came home from an overnight school outing with severe neck burn. She suspected that her daughter was a victim of a racially motivated bullying, however, school officials insisted that it was just a mere accident.

A Racially Motivated Bullying?

Fox News reports that Sandy Rougely, a mother from Waco, Texas, has hired a lawyer to file a personal injury lawsuit against Live Oak Classical School, the white-dominated private school of her black daughter. Her complaints came after her daughter returned home with severe neck burn from an overnight school outing at a private ranch between Johnson City and Fredericksburg on April 28.

"It looked like somebody had ripped her neck apart and stitched it back together," Rougely told The Dallas Morning News. She believed that the accident, as claimed by the school, was a racially motivated bullying from her black daughter's sixth-grade classmates who are mostly white.

The Young Black Student Believes It Was On Purpose

The young black student, whose name was withheld, narrated that she was assisting her classmates in pulling a rope swing when she decided to rest and watch. While watching, she felt the rope swing wrapping around her neck from behind. The rope pulled her to the ground and dragged her backward.

The young black student said that she asked three of her classmates, who was behind her during the accident, if they intentionally tied the rope on her neck but they said no. Despite her classmates' claim that it was an accident, she believed that it was on purpose because it is impossible for the rope to wrap around her neck.

School Officials Insist It Was A Mere Accident

Jeremy Counseller, a member of the school's board of directors, released a statement insisting that the young black student's neck burn was caused by an accident and not by a racially motivated bullying. He also stated that the student immediately received first aid treatment and had enjoyed the rest of the school outing.

Counseller added all students and teachers who were present during the accident were interviewed and all of them maintained that it was not a racially motivated bullying. Moreover, he also accused Rougley's legal team of sensationalizing the accident for financial gain.

Is it a racially motivated bullying or a mere accident? Are you convinced with the school's explanation? Share your thoughts below.