THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, May 14, 1996 TAG: 9605140283
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY PERRY PARKS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY LENGTH: Medium: 60 lines
A 16-year-old Northeastern High School student was found bound with her own belt and marked by cuts in a girls' bathroom at the school Monday afternoon, officials said.
The girl had ``several abrasions on her'' when she was noticed between 12:10 and 12:30 p.m., Pasquotank County Sheriff Randy Cartwright said.
Alex Leary, a history teacher, was the first adult to arrive after the girl was found, Cartwright said.
Leary said when he first saw the girl, he thought she was having a seizure. Then he noticed that her hands were tied behind her back with a belt.
``She looked like she was in pain with her arms tied behind her,'' said Leary, who loosened the belt and sent students to get medical help.
``I never had anything like this in my 30 years of teaching. It kind of scared me for a minute.''
The sheriff said the girl was found by another student ``who just walked in the girls' bathroom and saw her laying on the floor. She had a belt around one hand when we got there,'' Cartwright said.
``From her statement, she said she was tied up and pushed in the bathroom,'' he said.
The girl was treated at Albemarle Hospital and released, Cartwright said.
Sheriff's officials were still interviewing witnesses late Monday. Cartwright said several people were nearby when the incident happened, but that no one they had talked to had seen or heard anything unusual.
``No noise, no nothing,'' Cartwright said. ``They saw her walk in the bathroom one time and walk back out, and then she said she was pushed in the bathroom a second time.''
The girl reportedly told officials that something had been put over her head and she had been pushed from behind.
She told officials she had no idea who had attacked her, but she believed there was more than one assailant.
``Something happened to her,'' Cartwright said. ``She's got abrasions and cuts to her, and we found a razor and a file . . . We're getting all kinds of reports.''
The nail file apparently caused a superficial stab wound on her thigh, Cartwright said. Other injuries were on her arms and legs, he said.
Leary, the history teacher, said he saw cuts on the girl's face and across her jeans.
Officials were also investigating notes the girl said she had been receiving. Cartwright would not elaborate on their contents.
Superintendent Joe Peel said officials were discussing ways to make sure the girl was escorted around the school ``until they can get to the bottom of it.''
Peel said Northeastern was a safe school. ``We haven't had any problems out there this year,'' he said.
Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the Pasquotank County Sheriff's Department at 338-2191 or Crime Line at 335-5555.
KEYWORDS: ASSAULT by CNB