Mom defends daughter charged in brutal school beating: Shes not a criminal, shes a child

The mother of an 11-year-old girl arrested for a vicious, caught-on-camera beating in a Florida middle school claims her daughter is the victim — saying she snapped because she was “tired of being harassed and bullied.”The mom, not publicly named to protect her daughter’s identity, said she was furious that the shocking attack in the cafeteria at Nautilus Middle School in Miami Beach late last month has left her daughter facing felony assault charges.“My daughter at 11 years old has to go through this and see herself in the news,” the mother told WPLG through tears of the now-viral footage of the attack.“She’s not a criminal, she’s a child,” she said of the honor roll student facing a second-degree felony aggravated battery charge.“She made a mistake, but she is a child that felt the need to defend herself.”The victim’s mother said that her daughter, also 11, suffered a concussion in the beatdown and has been too scared to return to school since.However, the mother of the girl seen attacking her said her daughter was the one being bullied, claiming they had been desperately trying to get help from school officials for weeks.“I wanna tell the judge to please not only see just the video, but what happened before, what led up to that, why did she feel the need to react this way,” the mom said.“And it’s because my daughter was tired of being harassed and bullied.”She said she understands the video is tough to watch and does “not condone it” – but it “could have been prevented.”The accused girl’s mother described her daughter as having perfect attendance and an “honor roll student.”The Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office said the case was initially referred for a misdemeanor battery charge through a juvenile diversion program.However, prosecutors filed a second-degree felony aggravated battery charge after the victim’s mother requested prosecution and authorities considered the girl’s injuries. “I was just grate...