By Joe Johnson
A female student was seriously injured during a fight with another girl Thursday afternoon at Winder-Barrow High School.
Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith said the injured girl suffered a fractured skull and possibly a brain bleed after the other girl smashed her head into a wall in a school hallway.
No charges had been filed as of Friday night, but Smith said he would have additional information on Monday.
He said deputies on Thursday tracked down at least 20 students who witnessed the fight, one of whom made a video of the altercation that was shared among the student body via Snapchat. Witness statements and the video will be evaluated to determine which student was the aggressor and whether criminal charges would be filed, Smith said.
In the video, which was viewed by Classic City News, one girl is seen slamming the other girl’s head into the wall and walking away as the injured student slumped to the floor.
CCN chose to not publish the video due to its graphic nature.
Parents who have children enrolled at Winder-Barrow were not notified about the fight because the severity of the incident was not immediately known, the sheriff said.
According to Smith the fight occurred at about 2 p.m. and the injured girl was assessed by the school nurse, who did not see a need to call for an ambulance. Barrow County school policy is to evaluate the student and if there doesn’t appear to be a serious injury, contact the parents and allow them to seek outside medical care.
About an hour later, the injured girl’s mother took her to Northeast Georgia Medical Center Barrow. Smith said doctors determined the girl‘s skull had been fractured and a decision was made to fly her by helicopter to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta for further evaluation and treatment. The girl was reported Friday night to still be hospitalized with serious, but not life-threatening injuries.
Smith said there were rumors that the fight was an escalation of a classroom argument.
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