The two sides involved in a school violence incident in Torrance are at odds over conflicting claims. While the alleged perpetrators claim that an apology and settlement after the graduation party incident resolved the issue, the alleged victim disagrees and says she never received either an apology or settlement.
Late last month, an anonymous user on the Korean American online community website, MissyUSA, claimed to have been a victim of severe school violence at West High School in Torrance more than 30 years ago. The incident spread quickly online, with many calling it the “LA version of Netflix’s The Glory”.
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The controversy does not seem to subside yet. In the past five days, the situation has become even more complicated, with a series of posts citing claims from acquaintances of the alleged perpetrators.
“One of the perpetrators, Kim, is claiming that ‘she was the leader of the school violence, but she paid the victim money and settled the situation’,” one user wrote in a post on September 8. The post said Kim’s father met with the victim and delivered the money.
“I heard that the parents of the perpetrators apologized together at the time,” an acquaintance of the perpetrators who requested anonymity, told the Korea Daily, adding, “Currently, they are trying to contact the victim, but it is not going well.” She said that some of them have hired lawyers and are preparing to take legal action.
The alleged victim of the incident strongly refuted the claims. “I have never received any apology from the parents nor have I received any settlement money,” she said. According to her, an acquaintance arranged a meeting between her and the alleged perpetrators’ parents, but only Kim’s father was present.
“One of the perpetrators hit her head on the floor, repeatedly said she was sorry, and eventually collapsed,” she said. ”My mother said she didn’t have much choice. She was also having a hard time at the time, so she was like, ‘Let’s just put up with it,’ but she didn’t know that I would live with this pain for so long.”
She added that she had hidden the two years of abuse as well as the graduation party incident from her mother.
The mother reportedly accepted money from Kim’s father for her daughter’s medical treatment, she said. She added that when she visited the hospital, her eye condition was severe enough that the doctor asked her if she had been beaten.
According to the alleged victim, she was unable to go to school for two weeks after the assault, and she went to school with her face and body covered in makeup because her bruises had not faded.
“When I was washing my hair, I screamed because my head hurt so badly when water touched it,” she added, ”and I couldn’t sleep unless I took tranquilizers, where one time I took six pills a day and didn’t wake up for 24 hours.”
“I never saw the faces of the parents of the perpetrators, and I never received a proper apology,” she said, adding that “the money I received for medical treatment was hardly a settlement, given the condition I and the other students were in at the time.”
She says she wants a sincere apology from the alleged perpetrators. “I believe they have changed now that they are adults,” she said, “and I really hope that everything will be resolved as soon as possible.”
BY SUAH JANG, HOONSIK WOO [jang.suah@koreadaily.com]
