Students arrested for January assault at GHS campus News Staff Tue, 03/05/2024 - 10:34 am
- (CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS | YCSO) Damariz Ortiz, 17, and Diamond Dragoo, 18, were both arrested Tuesday, Feb. 27, following an incident with a minor student which occurred Monday, Jan. 29 at Graham High School.
Leader Staff Report editor@grahamleader.com
Two students were arrested last week following an alleged assault of another student at Graham High School at the end of January.
Diamond Dragoo, 18, and Damariz Ortiz, 17, were both arrested Tuesday, Feb. 27, following an incident with a minor student which occurred Monday, Jan. 29. Both were booked into the Young County Jail on a $2,500 bond and released the same day.
The victim stated that earlier in the day, both alleged aggressors had confronted her multiple times about rumors she was being accused of spreading. She was confronted in the girl’s restroom and tried to avoid an altercation.
After 7th period, the victim noticed Ortiz and Diamond were down the hall and it appeared they were waiting for her with a large group of students, some with their phones as if ready to record.
In video footage of the incident, both Ortiz and Dragoo can be heard verbally confronting the minor student, while Ortiz can be seen making a hand motion in the student’s face. The victim does not engage with the two students and attempts to continue walking forward.
When the victim does not engage, Ortiz attempts to swing on the victim, but misses. The victim takes off her backpack, while Ortiz continues to swing at her. Ortiz grabs and pushes the student up against the concrete wall, before pushing the victim to the ground.
While Ortiz is grabbing the victim’s hair and punching her in the back of the head, the student grabs onto Ortiz’ leg. During this, Dragoo is standing between the two and the crowd.
As Ortiz continues to have a hold on the victim’s hair, the student can be heard saying she wants them to leave her alone. Dragoo then open-hand hits the victim twice in the head, while Ortiz continues to have a hold on the victim.
At this point in the video, a teacher can be heard and then seen approaching the three students. Ortiz releases the victim and Dragoo then grabs her by the front of the shirt and can be seen pushing her, while the teacher walks around them.
While up against the teacher, Dragoo began hitting the victim in the head again. As the two separated, the victim attempted to swing on Dragoo, but missed. When the students separated, the teacher stepped in between Dragoo and the victim, while Dragoo continued to come at the student.
Superintendent Sonny Cruse said that when a fight occurs on a campus, the assistant principal or principal will conduct an investigation and determine details such as if the fight was a mutually combative situation.
“If it’s one sided, then it very well may be elevated to the level of an assault. ...The next thing when we have those kinds of issues is we get the SRO involved. The SRO is going to be the one that helps determine if it’s going to meet the legal definition of anything that requires charges,” Cruse said. “Then depending on the severity of the fight, ...history of the discipline of the students, you have to make some determinations about the appropriate discipline, (such as) is it In-School Suspension, out of school suspension, or DAEP (Disciplinary Alternative Education Program). If it’s a legal thing, it could involve an arrest at some point.”
Cruse said while it is not the job of a teacher to step in and physically break up a fight on a campus, they should attempt to intervene and provide aid.
“They’re going to try to alleviate the situation, if they can get the two kids separated safely they’re going to do so, but we don’t want our staff members to put themselves in harm’s way if kids (are) flailing their arms or legs,” Cruse said. “You’ve got to be smart about it, they’ve got to use common sense there. It’s typical that teachers are going to intervene and try to help defuse the situation and get all parties safe and away from each other.”
The victim’s mother stated she was notified by her brother that her daughter had been involved in the assault. She arrived at the school and was made aware by teacher Sara Jo Carrico and health services aide Jessica Groves that her daughter had “fainted” or “passed out.”
According to the mother’s statement, the extent of medical treatment received at the school included a cookie and an ice pack. Cruse said in a typical situation when rendering aid at a campus, the student would be taken to a “nurse-type” office on one of the campuses.
“We have some LVNs on the campuses and we have some clinic aides. Depending on the campus, they're going to go to that nurse-type office and either be seen by an LVN or a clinic aide, and they're going to administer first aid, try to make sure the kid is okay, all those sorts of things. And if needed, we would call 911 to get more serious help,” Cruse said.
At the time, the victim’s mother was under the impression that GHS vice principal Necia Mari and GISD School Resource Officer Sgt. Blake Davis had the other two students detained in another office or that authorities had taken the two students into custody.
The district superintendent said that the standard operating procedures for the school and Graham Police Department are to not have students arrested in a classroom setting.
“If at all possible, we would bring a kid down to the office and it would happen there. Our goal is to assist law enforcement in those sorts of things and help facilitate that... but we don’t want to cause any additional embarrassment, or disrupt classrooms, or disrupt the learning environment,” Cruse said. “...Where someone is arrested on campus, that power really lies with the law enforcement officer. ...Just our normal operating procedure with Graham Police Department in the school district we try to do things in a more private setting and to alleviate... embarrassment for the student.”
The victim said they had head and neck pain and the following day felt their head was still in pain. The victim’s mother took them to the doctor where it was determined she had a concussion.
According to a report filed more than three weeks after the incident, Davis was informed Jan. 29 of the fight in the commons area which took place in a “camera blind spot.”
Marin informed Davis that she had been able to obtain several videos that students had recorded on their phones. After reviewing the footage, he stated in his report that he believed the incident was an assault.
Davis attempted to speak to the victim and her mother at the school the following day, but the victim’s mother requested to speak with a different officer because she “did not like the way the incident was handled.” The victim and her mother met Tuesday, Jan. 30 with Officer Pedro Marrufo to recount the incident.
Based on the observation of the videos and the statement provided by the victim, Marrufo stated Ortiz and Diamond knowingly caused bodily injury to the victim and requested warrants be issued the same day.
Davis gathered witness and suspect statements, beginning Tuesday, Jan. 30 through Thursday, Feb. 7, from four students and one member of the office staff.
The final two statements Davis gathered were from the two aggressors, with Dragoo’s being taken Thursday, Feb. 15 in DAEP and Ortiz’ taken Tuesday, Feb. 20 at GPD.
According to both statements, they both claim that the minor student had started some “drama” and initially, they were just trying to confront her about the rumors. Both claim that the physical confrontation started due to the victim saying something offensive to Ortiz and while the fight was ongoing, the victim spit in both their faces, causing the fight to escalate further.
While the full extent of the aggressors’ initial punishment is not known, the two were placed in DAEP for an undetermined amount of days.
Due to being put on the district’s concussion protocol, the victim did not return to school until Tuesday, Feb. 6. She began attending half days of instruction, and then later moved to full days, as part of the protocol.
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