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FRESNO, Calif. » Two women have been arrested for allegedly going onto a school campus and assaulting a pair of teenage girls, including one who the women say had been bullying their son, police said Tuesday.
The mother, stepmother and other relatives of a 12-year-old Fresno, California, boy drove to the campus of Cooper Academy, rushed into the cafeteria filled with 100 people for an after-school activity and confronted the two girls, ages 12 and 13, Fresno Police Lt. Joe Gomez said.
In the confrontation, a 15-year-old daughter of one of the women started to fight with one girl, who later complained of pain to her head and arm, Gomez said.
The two women, ages 29 and 33, and the 15-year-old girl were later arrested on suspicion of felony conspiracy and misdemeanor cruelty to a child, Gomez said.
The boy’s mother said Tuesday that she was interviewed by a police detective who told her that she would not be charged. The Associated Press is not naming the mother because her son is the victim of alleged bullying.
The mother said that before the March 17 incident she repeatedly complained to the school that the girls had verbally bullied her son for two months, but it didn’t end. A week ago she said she got a call from her son, hiding in a bathroom and tearfully saying he was being bullied again. She said that sent her and other relatives to the school to confront the girls.
She said that there was some pushing and shoving inside the cafeteria, but she and the other woman were not directly involved. She said a video recording of the incident supports her story.
Gomez said the case remains under investigation will be sent to prosecutors who will decide what charges are filed.
Jed Chernabaeff, a Fresno Unified School District spokesman, said that the school had an open investigation into the alleged bullying at the time of the incident. He said the school was following its protocol by interviewing each of the involved students and witnesses to resolve the bullying.
