The Blanco County, Texas, Sheriff's Office has ruled that there is no evidence of a criminal act or intention to harm in the case of a black Waco girl who suffered a severe burn from a rope around her neck during a school field trip earlier this year, KHOU reports.
Thus, no charges will be filed in the case.
The incident unfolded as kids from Live Oak Classical School's sixth-grade class stayed on a ranch for a overnight trip on April 28 and 29. At some point during the trip, the children were playing with a swing that hung from a tree. The 12-year-old victim was playing with others and was helping to pull on the ropes to work the swing. The victim told detectives that she had stopped pulling the rope and had begun watching when the rope somehow ended up around her neck, pulling tight and dragging her about an inch, causing a severe burn.
According to the report, children at the scene who were interviewed offered different accounts, with some saying that the rope whipped around the neck, and others saying that she fell toward the swing, causing the rope to wrap around her neck.
An attorney for the girl, however, is calling the attack motivated by race, and the culmination of months of bullying at the hands of other classmates at the predominantly white school.
The sheriff's-office investigation found that there was no evidence of any racially charged attacks against the victim by anyone at or associated with the Live Oak Classical School.
On Monday the school released a statement saying that it has "willingly worked with the Blanco County Sheriff's Department in their investigation of the incident. Live Oak Classical School stated they will stand by the facts of this independent investigation, and that remains true with today's release of the completed report.
"The report's findings are consistent with the information that Live Oak Classical School originally discovered after being apprised of the allegations. The report makes clear that the Blanco investigation found no evidence of any criminal act or intent to purposely harm the student," the statement continued. "The report makes clear that the student's injury was the result of an accident while she was playing with her classmates. Further, the investigator found no evidence of any racially motivated act towards the victim."
Read more at KHOU.