SALISBURY, N.C. — A father is outraged after he claims his 13-year-old daughter was sexually assaulted inside her junior high school. He says the district is trying to cover up what happened.
This girl now suffers from PTSD and is too scared to go back to school. NBC Charlotte is not identifying her because she is a possible victim of a sex crime.
Her father doesn't think school leaders are taking it seriously enough
Salisbury Police say the 13-year-old was approached by a boy after class at Knox Middle School.
"He just randomly comes up to me behind me and then he grips my breast and he pins me to the wall," she told NBC Charlotte.
The girl said the boy took it even further, rubbing up against her.
"I could not move," she said. "It was scary. I didn't know what to do, I was in complete shock."
She said she told a counselor.
When she got home to tell her father, she didn't know if he'd believe her. He did, but he said he couldn't believe the school didn't call him.
Her dad says he filed a complaint and talked to the principal.
"He would keep the kids separated during this whole ordeal while he tried to figure out what's going on," he said.
But two days later, her dad said his daughter and the boy were put in the same classroom again.
"I was really traumatized from it," she said.
And when he finally received the incident report, he said it referred to the incident as a simple assault.
"It takes away from her dignity," her father said. "It's like because of my daughter's age, she doesn't have a voice there."
He said he wants the school and the police to call it what he believes it was -- a sexual crime.
"I wanted justice, I wanted someone to explain to me how this is not what it is," he said.
His daughter is just as upset.
"I just wish the principal did something to him so he could learn a lesson," the 13-year-old said. "So he could learn not to do it again, because what if he does it to another kid?"
The school says it can't comment on specific cases so we don't know why they chose not to call this a sex crime.
NBC Charlotte called Salisbury police who took the report in the case, and a spokesperson said that based on the circumstances of this case, it could have been categorized as a sexual battery and a court could choose to use a different charge if it ever rose to that level.
It should be noted, the suspect is 12 years old. Police also say they have no control over the school's decisions.
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