The family of a 12-year-old Los Angeles Unified School District student is suing the district regarding their daughter’s death after she was hit in the head with a metal water bottle at a Sherman Oaks school campus last month.
Attorneys joined with Khimberly Zavaleta’s family at a Wednesday news conference to announce the LAUSD lawsuit, saying that her death is a “devastating consequence to unchecked bullying.”
Video footage from the news conference showed a group of students walking down a hallway at Reseda Charter High School, fighting amongst each other. Attorney Robert Glassman said the footage is part of the Feb.17 incident, which resulted in Khimberly’s death.
Khimberly Zavaleta
CBS LA
“School administrators cannot let giant fights just erupt in the middle of the campus and not do anything about it,” Glassman said, highlighting the school district’s role in the tragedy.
He explained that Khimberly was defending her 15-year-old sister, Sharon, because she was being bullied by a group of kids who had been bullying other kids in the weeks prior.
“These prior bullying incidents were reported to the school, and the school, unfortunately, did not do anything. They did not take any action,” Glassman said.
Khimberly was treated at a hospital for blunt force trauma, returned days later with a brain bleed, and was placed in a medically induced coma. She eventually succumbed to her injuries in the hospital on Feb. 25.
“Bullying is a very, very serious problem at this school district, and it must come to an end,” Glassman said. “There were over 6,000 incidents of bullying in the 2023-2024 school year at the LAUSD.”
Glassman explained that the claim is about a call for action at LAUSD, demanding stronger anti-bullying enforcement, adequate supervision on campus, immediate intervention protocols, and clear reporting procedures for threats and violence.
“When bullying and violence escalate at a school, that’s a serious breakdown of student safety,” Glassman said.
LAUSD issued the following statement: “Los Angeles Unified does not comment on pending or ongoing litigation.”