The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) shared a message with the Lawrence Middle School community on Monday, Dec. 23, hours after parents, students and civil rights activists gathered in front of the LA Police Department (LAPD) Devonshire Department in Northridge to demand justice in what they are calling a racially-motivated beating of 13-year-old Sal’Vyion “Sal” Torres.
“I want to inform you of an after-school altercation that occurred between an adult (non-employee) and a student off-campus on December 6, 2024, near Lawrence Middle School. We notified the parents of the student involved immediately following the incident,” the LAUSD statement reads.
Outrage from the Chatsworth school’s community erupted following the attack on the African American eighth-grade student by a white parent.
On Dec. 6, Sal said he and his friends were helping his grandmother carry items from the school out to her car when an adult assailant, a mid-40s white man and parent at the school, physically assaulted Sal while hurling racial slurs including the N-word. The man reportedly rushed at Sal, grabbed him by the neck, threw him on the ground face down, folded his arm and put his knee in the back of his neck. Sal suffered a concussion, contusion, neck sprain and a closed head injury.
“He had his knee on my neck with all his weight and was just yelling the N-word at me,” recalled Sal. “My neck still hurts when I move it around, it’s sore.”
Salvador Torres said when he arrived at the school, his son was hysterical, crying out, “He wanted to kill me like George Floyd.”
“It’s very disheartening to know that things like this can happen in our community and in front of his school,” said Adrina Torres, Sal’s mother. “He doesn’t feel safe. They haven’t arrested this man. For some reason, we don’t understand why. LAPD is not helping us at all, no answers, nothing.”
Despite a police report being filed by the parents on behalf of their son, the assailant has not yet been apprehended. Salvador Torres said the family received a police report number from LAPD over two weeks after the incident.
“Since Dec. 6, when this incident happened, we have been given the runaround,” said Salvador Torres. “It’s been an emotional roller coaster.”
The statement from LAUSD claims that “The Los Angeles School Police Department responded to the incident and the investigation is ongoing. We are investigating the incident further in accordance with Los Angeles Unified policy and have taken appropriate actions related to the parties involved.”
The family’s attorney, Bradley C. Gage, said they are seeking, “justice, fairness, equality” and want to see action taken to hold people accountable in the case of a hate crime and physical assault on a child. He added that they want the District Attorney’s Office to look at the case and pursue everything that’s legal under the law.
“Everyone deserves an education. No one should be afraid to be at school. No one should be persecuted because of the color of their skin,” said Gage. “Schools, once they know of a problem, have an obligation to take action to protect these kids.”
By Dec. 23 the Torres family said the school had not reached out to them or provided any counseling for their child.
The LAUSD statement announced that once the school re-opens on Jan. 6, they “will provide counselors to any student who may need support or someone to talk to. Please reach out to us if your child needs assistance. This incident provides an opportunity to speak with your child about making positive choices and to remind them to tell a trusted adult if they are experiencing issues with other students,”
This is not the first time a Black student has reportedly experienced hate from this individual on school grounds. Another parent, Eliza Franklin, said her son Gregory King, another African American eighth-grader at Ernest Lawrence, was approached by the same parent three-and-a-half weeks prior. The man allegedly threatened to physically assault Gregory and called him racial slurs.
“This gentleman is a danger to our children, and this is something that needs to be addressed,” said Franklin.
Denisha Jordan, a former teacher at Ernest Lawrence, joined the families to support their demands for justice.
“Anytime you have an adult that’s putting their hands on a child, there is no justification for that,” said Jordan. “For the incident to be racially motivated is even more traumatic for the student.”
Jordan taught physical education at Ernest Lawrence for 14 years but left post-COVID because of the “negative environment” for Black and queer people. She was the only African American teacher at the school when working there, and said she experienced microaggressions from other administrators and staff members.
When one teacher decided to re-enact a slave auction in class, Jordan advised her against it and even supplied the teacher with alternative lesson plans. The teacher’s response was, “I’m not racist. My dad is, but I’m not.”
Jordan said her daughter, who also attended the school, was often pulled out of class to be “randomly searched.”
Some in the community are now questioning the lack of safety measures and accountability at Ernest Lawrence.
“Los Angeles Unified strives to treat everyone with respect, kindness, and compassion at every school,” LAUSD said in the message to the school community. “The Lawrence Middle School community will provide opportunities for any student impacted by the incident to discuss their perspective on how to mediate conflicts that arise, both on campus and within the community.”
Najee Ali, senior organizer with LA Metropolitan Churches, believes the attack on Sal stems from a more widespread issue of racism and hate crimes in the area.
“We want this to be charged as a hate crime because that’s what it was,” said Ali.
“This is not an isolated incident about racism. It’s a pattern of racism that’s going on in the valley,” Ali continued. “The school has failed him. The LAPD has failed him. Without question, had a Black parent assaulted and attacked a white child, that Black parent would have been arrested immediately. He’d be prosecuted. He’d be in jail right now.”
To report a hate crime or incident, or for more information, call 2-1-1 or visit: www.lavshate.org.
Hale Charter is also having a huge surge in hate crimes, and the school and the District do not allow staff to deal with the issues. In the last 3 years, The hate and violence towards minorities and Jews is out of control, and the district does not deal with them seriously. It is not only hate crimes, but all types of bullying that are on the rise, and LAUSD does not deal with these in any serious way. Way. They have, in fact, hindered the available consequences for schools, and I have reported this before. It does not seem that anybody is listening though, and I am literally considering leaving the district as an employee of the district because I’m so sick of witnessing this kind of behavior from staff and students without consequence.
I was the only Jewish teacher in my school and experienced a fair amount of anti-semitism. District did nothing. After I filed a discrimination complaint district retaliated with all kinds of nefarious actions. Eventually we settled. But I still suffer from PTSD.
I know the student because we have lived in the same neighborhood all our lives and he is a very kind, smart, sweet, polite, well-mannered child with an amazingly family and I am devastated that he experienced this unjust, undeserved, unacceptable violence at his school where he should feel safe and be protected by the staff. Their principal must resign immediately.