Two girls, aged 10 and 11, and a bus monitor face charges in the case. The two minors have been charged with second degree harassment. Additionally, the 11-year-old was charged with third degree assault as a hate crime. All the defendants are white.
According to WWNY, a parent complained to police that her daughter was a passenger on a school bus when she was assaulted. She was also the subject of racially-motivated language.
Police reported that the girl suffered a black eye, had hair pulled from her head and received a bruised knee after a fall.
Bus monitor Tiffany Spicer allegedly witnessed the attack but made no move to intervene. She has been charged with three counts of endangering the welfare of a child.
In his statement, Governor Cuomo said, “I am directing DHR to open an investigation into this heinous act immediately and, if applicable, to take legal action to the fullest extent of the law against the perpetrators. I am also directing the State Police Hate Crimes Task Force to provide local authorities with any resources needed to assist in their investigation.”
New York was the first state in the U.S. to enact a human rights law. It was designed to prohibit discrimination based, among other things, on age, race and sex. One of the ways the DHR enforces that law is through prosecution of unlawful discriminatory practices.
Hate crimes seem to be on the increase in the U.S. According to the FBI, 2,017 hate crimes were reported to the Uniform Crime Reporting Program in 2017. That number is up from 6,121 the previous year.
Crimes showing a bias against race, ethnicity and ancestry accounted for 59.6 percent of reported incidents. Religion was a distant second, coming in at 20.6 percent.
Hate crimes against children are nothing new. The Crimes Against Children Research Center states that from 1997-1999, juveniles were more likely than adults to experience hate crimes, and 63 percent of those crimes involved violence.
The school bus attack has impacted the citizens of Gouverner. Mayor Ron McDougall told WWNY, “It affects the whole community. We’re better than this.” The superintendent of the Gouverneur Central School District Lauren French, said, “It is probably the most devastating event since I started working at Gouverneur in 1984.” French also said additional training would be given to staff by the school district.
