By Pam Adams
Journal Star
PEORIA, Ill. — The father of a Peoria High School student caught on video wielding a knife while standing on table says he doesn’t know why she carried a knife to school. But, he said, school officials had designed an anti-bullying plan that was supposed to prevent the large fight that resulted in a Peoria police officer shocking her with a stun gun.
In one of the more memorable social-media scenes of several girls fighting, the girl stiffens and falls backwards from a cafeteria-style table after the officer shot her with the stun gun.
Her parents, who went with her from the hospital to the police station, said she seemed OK when they saw her, but she had a large bump on her head. They want to make sure she is examined fully. School officials said there were no injuries.
Though Peoria Public Schools administrators say they don’t have records of an anti-bullying plan being requested or needed, Milton Chappell Jr. portrayed his 15-year-old daughter as a girl who cracked after months of bullying.
“When you tell somebody what’s going on and nothing happens, it gets old,” Chappell said, referring to the bullying his daughter allegedly suffered. “You get tired of it.”
His daughter and her cousin, also 15, were involved in the fight with about five other girls. The cousin said one of the girls attacked Chappell’s daughter first, then the cousin was attacked after she pulled the girl away. According to the cousin, the fight started right after they talked to a school resource officer about the possibility of a fight. According to the school district, the school resource officer approached the girls first.
The cousin said she didn’t know everything that happened next because she was busy protecting herself.
In the videos making their way around social media outlets, police and other staff are seen trying to break up the fight in the commons area. The girl is on the ground at one point, while other girls appear to be beating her. She gets up, apparently grabs the knife from a nearby bookbag and heads toward the other girls when an officer forcefully pushes her into a glass case. She breaks away and climbs atop the table, swinging the knife, as a crowd of students and staff watch.
She is stunned by a Peoria police officer moments later. School resource officers are not permitted to carry stun guns. The girl’s father said she told him she had planned to drop the knife right before she was shocked.
“School safety is a top priority,” said PPS spokesman Chris Coplan, emphasizing officers were dealing with a student, in a room full of people, who refused to drop a weapon. Coplan said the school has records of conversations with the girl’s parents about previous altercations, but nothing about bullying.
Her father said he had also been told there is no anti-bullying plan on file, but he said the family discussed it with administrators in February. Though her family disagrees, PPS officials say their investigation, stemming from Facebook posts over the week, indicate the girl was the aggressor.
The girl’s cousin said the girl had been warned something might happen to her Monday.
No further information was available from police authorities.
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