A female student who attends Hawthorne Academy High School was suspended last month after reporting a male classmate sexually assaulted her.
The sophomore student reported the sexual assault to school officials after sitting through a Title IX education class at the beginning of the school year, WBTV reported.
Charlotte police were informed and investigated the incident. Charges were eventually pressed against the minor for sexual battery, a CMPD spokesman confirmed.
However, the female student was accused of filing a false report, and the school suspended her. Her mother was so upset that she called WBTV’s Chief Investigative Reporter Nick Ochsner about the issue.
Apparently, he has an ongoing investigation that has helped shine a light on Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools’ handling of reported rapes and sexual assaults.
The 15-year-old victim detailed her encounter with the male student. “He would, like, come into the bathroom, and he would push me into the stall,” the girl said. “He put his hands in my pants and then he was like touching my breasts.”
“The school did their investigation, gave me a phone call, and said, ‘Hey, look, unfortunately, it looks like there’s no evidence that shows that what your daughter saying took place,’ the mother added.
“We’re going to have to give her a day of suspension, and you know, so then that I asked the principal, I said, ‘well if the police are telling me that he did do these things, he admitted to them, and that I have the right to press charges, you’re telling me this didn’t happen? And she said, ‘well, unfortunately, what the law does has nothing to do to do with CMS, so, unfortunately, we have nothing else that we can do about this.'”
The school’s response hurt the mother.
The school didn’t respond when asked for a comment on the situation.
