SAN ANTONIO — The Northside Independent School District is investigating a fight involving three Brandeis High School students that took place on a school bus on Friday.
- Seven-second video shows students attacking a sophomore on a school bus
- School district is investigating the incident
- Lawyer for the victim says his client plans to press charges
The brutal beating was caught on a seven-second clip, and shows two students attacking a sophomore student. The video has been circulating online.
“I think anyone who sees that video recognizes that it’s troubling,” Barry Perez, an executive director of communication for NISD said.
The school district is trying to determine what led up to the fight and what happened on the bus after the clip ends.
“I think the piece to really understand though is that the video is short,” Perez said. “It provides a seven second glimpse of a much larger incident and the challenge for campus police has been to gather other sources of information, other sources of evidence.”
The district says they need more context than what the short video provides. Officers are looking into student testimony, video from cameras inside the bus and speaking with the bus driver.
“What you don’t see [in the video] are the things that the driver was doing to ensure all of the other students in the bus were safe, and that the bus was in a safe location,” Perez said.
Despite the district’s investigation, the family of the victim hired an attorney.
“There is no excuse for any of this. [The students] have no legal right to inflict that type of harm on [Nick]. This is... they are animals,” Gabe Quintanilla, Ortiz’s attorney said.
Quintanilla said he believes Ortiz was targeted for his sexual orientation. When NISD completes their investigation, he plans on pursuing charges against the other students involved under Title 9, which protects LGBTQ students.