A woman and her adult daughter stormed into a South Carolina middle school Wednesday to confront students they believed were bullying their relative — and the duo ended up beating three students, none of whom bullied their relative.
Mamie Smith, 67, and her daughter Whitney Smith, 32, were jailed on charges of third-degree assault by mob and disturbing schools, the State reported. They both live on Goshen Road in Sumter, the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office said.
What are the details?
The women went to Ebenezer Middle School in Dalzell and buzzed at the front entrance — then told school staff they needed to go to the attendance office, the State said, citing the sheriff’s office.
Once inside, the pair then ran down a hallway and pushed a female student against a wall, hitting and scratching her face and head, the paper said.
Around 2:30 p.m. the school’s resource officer called the sheriff’s office for backup regarding a fight in progress, the State said, adding that another student also was pushed and hit, and a third student also was assaulted before authorities were able to detain the mother and daughter.
Emergency services took one of the students to a hospital; the other two students were released to their parents — one of them for the purposes of medical treatment, the paper said. Information on their conditions wasn’t available, the State said.
Oops!
Not only did the women make a big mistake by entering a school and physically attacking students — but also, none of the students they attacked were bullying their relative.
“Our investigation showed that the students who were viciously attacked were not even the students who these subjects believed had bullied their family member,” Sheriff Anthony Dennis said, according to the State. “The fact is, the students who were reported as bullying these [women’s] family member [were] actually in the office being dealt with when this attack took place.”
What happened to the accused attackers?
Both Smiths were taken to the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office Detention Center where they were awaiting a bond hearing sometime Thursday, the paper said, citing the sheriff’s office.
If convicted on the third-degree assault by mob charge, they each face a maximum sentence of a year in prison; a conviction on the disturbing schools charge — a misdemeanor — is punishable by a maximum of 90 days in jail and a $1,000 fine, the State said, citing South Carolina law.
“This type of behavior is criminal and should never be considered … the appropriate way to deal with matters,” Dennis added, according to the paper.