Cops: 6-year-old girl choked, beaten by older girl in school bathroom

Parents have pulled all five of their children out of a school in Georgia, saying they no longer feel their children are safe there after their 6-year-old daughter was attacked.

Deputies told Fox 5 Atlanta that Lanira Tackett was attacked by a girl nearly twice her age in a bathroom at Oakland Elementary School Thursday morning.

The older student allegedly choked Lanira, dunked her head in the toilet multiple times and hit her head against the toilet. Pictures show the girl’s face bloody, scratched and bruised. A teacher heard loud noises from the bathroom and intervened.

“You send your kids to school to get an education, they should not have to worry about getting pulled into the bathroom and getting pummeled by somebody almost twice their age,” said Lanira’s father, Jeremy Tackett.

Lanira’s mother, Cheryl Tackett, said the older students should not be around the younger students. She said the parents were speaking out so schools would prevent this from happening to other students.

Lanira will be OK, according to her parents, but they worry how the incident could damage her emotionally.

The girl who beat Lanira has been charged with false imprisonment, aggravated assault and battery in juvenile court.

Last month, 16-year-old Amy Inita Joyner-Francis was beaten to death in the bathroom of Howard High School of Technology in Delaware. Multiple students allegedly joined in on a fight between Amy and another student, and the attack triggered a pre-existing heart condition that Amy had, killing her.

One student involved in the attack has been charged with criminally negligent homicide.

This story was originally published May 20, 2016 at 8:23 AM with the headline "Cops: 6-year-old girl choked, beaten by older girl in school bathroom."