Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, January 25, 1992 TAG: 9201250156
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RON BROWN and NEAL THOMPSON
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
ATHLETE'S PUNCH SHATTERS GIRL'S JAW AND SECURITY
Theresa Montgomery sits in her mother's Buchanan apartment, slurping baby food through her teeth for nutrition.Her broken jaw is wired shut, and she grits out her words about the fear that she feels.
At 16, Montgomery is now afraid to go back to James River High School, where a former boyfriend earlier this month broke her jaw with a knockout punch in a hallway.
"I never blamed the school for what happened," said Brenda Harris, the girl's mother. "I blame them for what their reaction was. Why would a boy be allowed to break a girl's jaw and knock her unconscious and get suspended for just five days? I don't think five days is worth all the pain and suffering she's going through."
Harris, who works as a housekeeping supervisor at a Fincastle nursing home, supplies her own answers. A mother of three, she said she was once abused herself.
She's impassioned as she talks about the case while sitting in her apartment on the bottom floor of an older house. She said she owes it to her daughter to see justice done.
Still, she is embittered by what she sees as a society stacked against women.
"Men make the laws, they enforce the laws, they judge you," she said. "The women pay the price, the children suffer.
"If you're a woman and you don't walk a straight line, men have a right to do this kind of damage to you."
James River Principal Lawrence Journelle said he's not taking the incident lightly.
"Frankly, I've never had to deal with one like this before," he said. "We try to be fair to all parties involved in a fight. That puts [me] in a precarious position."
Journelle said fights between two guys and between guys and girls happen routinely at the 450-student school. Most involve just yelling and cursing. This one was not routine.
Journelle said Montgomery's injuries were the worst he'd seen in his eight years at the school. Oral surgeons removed a molar to wire her jaw. She had bruises on her arms and on the back of her head. A nerve in her jaw had been stretched one inch, doctors told her mother.
Journelle, the principal, said Harris has a right to be upset. "She's looking out for her daughter, which is what she is supposed to do."
Harris said she's not willing to go along with a five-day suspension from school for the student who hit her daughter. She has taken out a juvenile petition for assault and battery against Randy Merchant, 17, a school athlete. He is scheduled to go on trial Feb. 11 in Botetourt County Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court. If convicted, he could receive a $2,500 fine and 12 months in jail.
In addition to the five-day suspension, Merchant has been placed on probation by the school for the rest of the year. He's been told to stay away from Montgomery and have no more fights or he'll be thrown out of school.
But that means little to Montgomery.
"I don't want to go to James River because of Randy," Montgomery said.
"I can't help but believe that him being a track star and quarterback of the football team didn't contribute to the reason that he only got five days," Harris said. "Are they telling me that if other kids did that tomorrow they would only get five days?"
Merchant is on the basketball team but couldn't participate in games while he was suspended.
"I'm probably going to let him play basketball," James River Coach John Shotwell said.
That's not the reaction that Harris expects.
"They should be setting an example for the future. Instead they are sending a message to the other kids if you break someone's jaw you'll only get five days. If this is the first time this has happened, you would think they would be stricter just to show them they're not going to tolerate this kind of behavior."
Harris said the school's policy on fighting is inconsistent. Merchant was suspended for only two days before school officers learned how serious Montgomery's injuries were. Montgomery, ironically, was suspended three years ago for fighting with her cousin. Her suspension was for three days.
Merchant admits hitting Montgomery.
"She smacked me," he said. "I thought she was serious. She wouldn't let go, pulling my coat."
He said he did not intend to hit her hard. "I just wanted to get her off of me."
Now, he worries about how his family will pay for a lawyer to defend him.
It started innocently as Montgomery sat in the hallway near the gym with a group of girl students who were playfully flinging mushrooms at passersby. Montgomery said she had brought the mushrooms to school as part of a class project.
When they saw Merchant coming down the hall, one of the girls threw a mushroom at him. It missed. Montgomery said she didn't throw the mushroom.
Merchant said he had told Montgomery not to throw one at him. Then he watched one sail past him. Then, he said, he yelled at her, "Get off me, girl!"
"He came over to where we were sitting and kind of pushed me into the wall," Montgomery said, adding that he snatched from her a grocery bag full of food she'd brought to school for a class project.
She said he showed the bag to other boys, who started laughing.
Montgomery got up and remembers having her arms around him. She said the rest is a blank.
Merchant said he is now sorry for the punch he threw.
"We were friends," he said. "We used to go together."
But Harris said her daughter has lingering fears. She often cries and shakes when her mother suggests that she go back to school.
Harris' question remains the same. "Why is he in school and she's talking about dropping out?"