Blanco County Sheriff’s Office has ruled that a criminal act did not take place in the case of a Waco, TX., girl, 12, who suffered a severe burn from a rope placed around her neck during a school field trip.

Young people attending an overnight trip were playing with a swing that hung from a tree when reports say the victim, along with other kids, attempted to pull on ropes to work a makeshift swing. The victim told detectives that she had stopped pulling the rope and began watching when the rope somehow ended up around her neck, dragging her, which in turn caused a severe burn.

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texas girl rope burn neck

On Monday the school released a statement saying that the school has “willingly worked with the Blanco County Sheriff’s Department in their investigation of the incident. Live Oak Classical School stated they will stand by the facts of this independent investigation, and that remains true with today’s release of the completed report.”

According to the report, children at the scene who were interviewed offered different accounts, with some saying the rope whipped around the neck, and others saying she fell toward the swing causing the rope to wrap around her neck.

However, an attorney for the girl is calling the attack, one motivated by race, the culmination of months of bullying at the hands of other classmates at the predominately white school. h/t theroot

texas girl rope burn on neck

The sheriff’s office investigation found that there was no evidence of any racially charged attacks against the victim by anyone at or associated with the School.