12-year-old girl devastated as three male classmates pin her down, chop off her dreadlocks in playground at Virginia private school
SPRINGFIELD, VIRGINIA: Three male sixth-grade students from a Christian school have been accused of pinning down a 12-year-old girl in the playground and chopping off her dreadlocks claiming they were "nappy" and "ugly."
The victim, Amari Allen, told WLTX that a group of male classmates attacked her in the premises of Immanuel Christian School, in Fairfax, Virginia, on Monday, September 23. "They kept laughing and calling me names," an emotional Amari said. "They called me 'ugly,' said I shouldn't have been born. They called me 'an attention-seeker.'"
Opening about the incident that left her traumatized for life, she said that one boy covered her mouth while the second boy put her hands behind her back. The third classmate pulled out a pair of scissors and cut her medium-length natural hair. All the while she was called demeaning names.
"They ran off laughing, and I was just sitting there," Amari said.
It was unclear where the teachers were at the time of the incident. The kids were reportedly spending recess on a sliding board. The entire playground was surrounded by caution tape on Thursday.
"It's very painful," Amari's grandmother, Cynthia Allen said. "I want to see them dismissed from the school. I want to see something done."
The private school, where Vice President Mike Pence's wife, Karen Pence, teaches, has a strict anti-bullying policy. In their parent-teacher guide book, bullying is defined as "deliberate use of power to dominate, intimidate and harm another person physically and/or emotionally over an extended period of time with no significant provocation or justification."
A Fairfax County Police Spokeswoman confirmed to Daily Mail that there was an "ongoing" investigation into the incident.
"We take seriously the emotional and physical well-being of all our students, and have a zero-tolerance policy for any kind of bullying or abuse. We are deeply disturbed by the allegations being made, and are in communication with the family of the alleged victim to gather information and provide whatever support we can. We have also reached out to law enforcement to ask them to conduct a thorough investigation, and further inquiries should be directed to the Fairfax County Police," the school said in a released statement.