'They did nothing.' L.A. girl's death raises questions about darkest side of bullying at school
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Sharon Zavaleta Chuquipa struggles to sleep in the room she shared with her younger sister.Every corner, decoration and toy holds devastating little reminders of the 12-year-old whose life was abruptly cut short.
The grief lies heavy — as does the guilt.At times, she says, it’s almost too much to bear.
“I blame myself,” she said in Spanish, tears in her eyes.“If she hadn’t gotten involved, she’d be here with me.”Feb.
17 was the day Sharon’s life changed forever.Her afternoon began as normal, with a group of bullies at Reseda Charter High School harassing her as she headed to final period, she said.
But things escalated when her little sister, Khimberly, stepped in to defend her and was struck in the head with a metal water bottle.Khimberly was taken to Valley Presbyterian Hospital in Van Nuys, where she was evaluated, treated and released that same day, according to her family.Three days later, major blood vessels in her brain ruptured, her family said.
She was rushed to UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital, where she underwent emergency brain surgery and was placed in a medically induced coma.It was no use.
Khimberly died on Feb.25.
The county medical examiner has yet to release an autopsy report with the girl’s cause of death.The jarring tragedy has led some, including Khimberly’s family, to question whether the Los Angeles Unified School District could have — or should have — done more to protect the girl.
“The school has a lot to answer for, because, well, they did nothing,” her mother, Elma Chuquipa Sanchez, said in Spanish.“Every single day, I would head to the school and I was there making a fuss [about ongoing bullying].“But it was all for nothing,” she continued.
“Now, my baby is gone.”LAUSD is the second-largest school district in the U.S., serving about 549,000 students at more than 1,500 different sites.Students each year ...