HOUSTON – A mother is livid about how the Houston Independent School District is handling a claim that her daughter was assaulted on one of its school buses.
Thirteen-year-old Zenobia Greene said a boy punched and choked her on the way home from school Wednesday afternoon because another student threw a cracker at him.
"He had his right hand around my neck and his left hand was hitting the right side of my face," Greene said. "He slammed my head against the window three or four times."
Greene's mother is going after the district, saying she isn't receiving any answers in her daughter's case.
"You send your child to school and you expect for them to come back safe," said Bridgette Young, Greene's mother.
Greene called her mother while she was on the bus and told her about the incident.
That's where things got heated.
Young stormed to the bus stop to confront the driver.
"I said, 'So you continued to drive the bus while my daughter was getting assaulted, you didn't stop, not even call HPD?'" Young said. "She told me no, she had other students to get home."
HISD released a statement Thursday saying:
HISD PD is investigating the incident to determine exactly what happened. The safety and security of our students is important and as such the incident will be fully investigated. Police offers will work with school administrators, the Houston Police Department and the transportation department to determine the cause of the incident and next steps including any appropriate disciplinary action.
But that's not enough for Young.
She claims HISD refuses to show her surveillance video from the bus, and when HPD officers questioned her daughter, they treated her more like a suspect than a victim.
A medical receipt shows Greene was treated for a head injury and injuries on her forehead and back. But worst of all, Young said, is the emotional pain her daughter is dealing with.
"I really don't want my baby to return to school. Period," she said.
