Witnesses Say Students Watched Girl's Sexual Assault At School: Officials Say Student Videotaped Abuse

UPDATED: 2:08 pm CDT April 13, 2005

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Police say several students witnessed the sexual abuse of a girl at a Columbus high school. A 16-year-old student with developmental delays said she was dragged into the auditorium of Mifflin High School, punched and forced to perform oral sex on at least two male students while more than a dozen other students were called in to watch. One student reportedly videotaped the sex acts, WCMH-TV in Columbus reported.

A student witness reported hearing an attacker warn, "If you scream, I'll have my boys punch you." The same witness said the girl then dropped to her knees after she was punched in the face. Students scattered when help was called, officials said.

During the attack, one witness looked for a school security guard but could not find anyone, he told investigators. "We went back to the auditorium; the victim was 'butt naked,"' the witness said, and someone "was on top of her." The attackers then ran from the scene, and witnesses helped the girl get dressed before taking her to a security employee, who is not a police officer.

Mifflin High School officials who found her bleeding from the mouth March 9 did not call police, and an assistant principal cautioned the girl's father against calling 911 because the media might get involved, according to statements from school officials obtained by The Columbus Dispatch. But the girl's father insisted on calling police and contacted them later that afternoon.

Special education teacher Julie Calvario said the girl told her about the incident. "(She said) she was scared and told him to stop, but he hit her in the head and told her to be quiet," Calvario said. Even after administrators were alerted to the alleged criminal act, they did not call police, or the victim's father, WCMH reported. More than an hour later, teacher Lisa Upshaw called the girl's father. Upshaw said that when the girl's father arrived, assistant principal Richard Watson would not call the police.