HOWLAND - A 14-year-old eighth-grade student here was placed on a minimum of 90 days probation and handed a 60-day suspended sentence Wednesday in Trumbull County Juvenile Court after a ruling of ''true,'' or guilty, was passed on an accusation of assaulting a fellow student in April.
Maria Ann Melius of Crestview Avenue S.E. also was ordered by a court magistrate to take anger management training and have no contact with the 13-year-old victim, Alexis Butcher, of North River Road N.E.
Butcher's mother, Sara, filed the complaint with juvenile authorities in Family Court, saying she pulled her daughter out of school for the remainder of the year.
The assault happened April 25.
Alexis, also in the eighth-grade, told police that she was at her locker when Melius came up behind her, grabbed her by the hair, pulled her to the ground and pinned her to the floor. Melius began striking Alexis in the back of the head with her fists, hitting her multiple times, a report states.
A school guidance counselor broke up the fight.
According to reports, the Melius told police that Butcher made fun of her in class and called her "white trash" between classes. She admitted grabbing the girl by the head and pulling her to the ground, police said.
Melius told police that she blacked out at that time and recalls the guidance counselor pulling her off the victim.
Police reported that her right hand was swollen from the punching and that when officers asked her what happened to her hand, she told them it was from hitting Butcher, police said.