A spat between two girls at a Boston high school quickly escalated Monday afternoon when one of the girls tased the other for “talking about her behind her back,” a police report states.
The female students, listed as former friends who attend the Josiah Quincy Upper School in Chinatown, were involved in a physical altercation that is classified as a “very active investigation by the Boston Police Department,” a spokesperson said.
No arrests have been made, Sgt. Det. John Boyle, BPD’s chief spokesperson, told the Herald on Tuesday. The girls’ ages were not disclosed — the school includes grades 6-12.
The two girls, one of whom was taken to an undisclosed hospital after sustaining an injury in the fight, are facing disciplinary action consistent with the Boston Public Schools code of conduct, the two heads of the Josiah Quincy Upper School said in a letter to families Monday night.
The dustup stemmed from a verbal confrontation between the two last Friday, when the student listed as the victim said her former friend accused her of talking behind her back, which she denied, the police report states.
Neither girl communicated with the other over the weekend, the victim said, adding that shortly after 11 a.m. Monday, she encountered the “suspect” girl in the hallway, who “jumped in her face,” the police report states.
“The victim stated, ‘why are you in my face after everyone told you to stay away from me?’ ” the report states. “Victim stated that ‘she started screaming and then pulled out a taser and was hitting me in my head and then she tased me.’ ”
The report goes on to state that a “witness” stepped in to de-escalate the situation to no avail, and that while he was standing in between the two students, “the suspect stepped to the side of his body and pulled out a black object from the front pocket of her hoodie and began to hit the victim in the head with it.”
“Witness stated that he then heard a buzzing or zapping noise and observed what he described as ‘lightning bolt and a wire hit the floor and saw beads all over the floor,’ ” the report said.
The witness, per the report, then described hearing the victim scream, “She tased me!”
Upon arrival, police officers spoke with a member of BPS Safety Services, which the school insisted in its letter “immediately responded and worked to de-escalate the situation.”
In the police report, the BPS safety team leader said his team responded to the incident after “hearing the commotion” and found one of the girls, listed as the victim who was struck with an object and tased, “bleeding from her face.”
An officer was told on scene that a mediation between the two girls that had been scheduled for earlier in the day had never convened, and that the suspect left the school after the incident.
The victim’s mother took her daughter to the hospital after refusing an ambulance, the report states.
The girl listed as the victim was informed on how to obtain a harassment order, according to the report, which states that complaints will be sought in Boston Juvenile Court.
In a letter to families, school officials described the altercation as an “isolated incident” that will “be addressed consistent with BPS policies.”
A district spokesperson deferred further comment to the police department.