A 14-year-old boy was attacked by four older teenagers at his high school on Friday after a parent engaged him in an altercation and hurled vicious racist insults at him.
The victim, freshman Dasanni Barfield, is currently recovering from a broken nose and a concussion.
His mother, Cherie Barfield, is now calling on the Bay Area school to ensure the safety of its students on campus.
The boy said he was standing outside the locker room when he was confronted by the mother of a Dublin High School student, allegedly the mother of a student.
After allegedly being called the N-word, the black student retreated to the boys’ locker room, where he was pursued by the parent and four unknown individuals between the ages of 16 and 19, police said.
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The victim, identified as freshman Dasanni Barfield, is recovering from a broken nose and concussion after he was allegedly attacked by four older teenagers following an altercation with a parent at his high school on Friday.
The boy said he was standing outside the locker room when he was confronted by the mother of a Dublin High School student, allegedly the mother of a student. After allegedly being called the N-word, the black student retreated to the boys’ locker room.
“So when I’m outside, the mom says, which one of you… is going to be called…” Barfield, who plays on the school’s football team, said Tuesday in an interview with CBS News Bay Area while sitting next to his mother.
“N***er.” Say what she said,” Mama Cherie explained.
“She called us that,” Barfield agreed. “She asked like that, with that word.”
“That’s how the mother approached him,” his mother added, claiming her son was still shaken by the encounter.
She also said that he felt uncomfortable passing on the racist comments made by the mother, who has not yet been named.
“It’s on the surveillance footage,” she insisted.
Neither the school nor the police would provide further details about the nature of the attack or reveal the identity of the victim.
He identified himself during questioning on Tuesday after Dublin police confirmed that they did not believe the attack was a random one.
The boy, seen here with his mother Cherie on Tuesday, was chased by the parent and four unidentified people, aged approximately 16 to 19, into the locker room, where he was mercilessly beaten, police said.
“When she says that, I just walk away,” Barfield recalled the encounter that led to the fight. “I didn’t want to try to argue with her.”
At this point, Desanni said, he saw four larger figures appear from behind before they began to approach him.
He said he then retreated to the locker room before describing the fight that allegedly ensued.
“These guys come into the dressing room and ask, ‘Are you Dasanni? Are you Dasanni?’ says the boy, still visibly stressed.
“One of the guys throws a sneak punch at me. I get up, start punching back and they all start jumping on me,” he said.
His mother now demanded answers and added that she felt “sorry for (her son) because (she doesn’t) know what impact it will have on him”.
“The trauma that followed,” she said.
She is demanding an explanation from the school administration after it was confirmed that a Dublin High School parent was involved in the attack
She added that she was particularly concerned that a parent from a Dublin high school was involved in the attack – a fact that police have already confirmed, although they did not name those involved.
“I just cannot understand how another parent can inflict physical violence on another child and just get away with it,” complained the mother.
“I just want my son to be safe. I want all the children in this community to be safe,” she said. “We live here. We opened a restaurant here to bring this community together.”
She added that one of her son’s teammates and several other horrified bystanders rushed to stop the attack.
In a letter to families, school principal Maureen Byrne said she and the school administration were “outraged that this happened on our campus.”
“School must be a place where everyone feels safe and supported,” she said.
The four young people involved were not named, but were between 16 and 19 years old, police said. It was initially unclear whether they were schoolchildren.
The lead-up to the attack and its aftermath were captured on video, Byrne added. Police said all four younger suspects were wearing hoodies.
Police said they had identified some of the people involved, including the parent.
Police and paramedics arrived at the scene after the school’s football coach, former Oakland Raiders player Napoleon Kaufman, also stepped in to help the boy.
Police and paramedics arrived at the scene after the school’s football coach, former Oakland Raiders player Napoleon Kaufman, also jumped in to help the boy, officials said. The investigation is ongoing
Dublin Police Chief Nate Schmidt said his department has not yet made any arrests and officers are still interviewing witnesses.
Dublin Police added that evidence was being collected to determine the motive for the attack and how the victim, suspects and parents at Dublin High School knew each other.
In the meantime, Barfield will likely miss his first football game as a freshman.
“Football has been his everything since he was seven,” his mother said, as police continue to investigate what exactly happened
“And that he can’t play his starting game… I wish I could make things easier for him, but I can’t.”
She wanted an explanation from the administration, she said.
The police investigation into the incident is still ongoing.
