Viral Facebook post of bullying prompts authorities to investigate

STURGIS, S.D. (KELO) — Authorities in western KELOLAND are investigating after someone posted a video of a 15-year-old girl being hit in the face on Facebook.

Hours later, the post went viral. Now, Ella Ward and her mother are speaking out against bullying so that something like this won’t happen again.

Ella Ward, is a freshman at Sturgis Brown High School. The other day, she says some friends asked her to meet them at this skate park. She thought they were going to hang out.

“Fiveq minutes passed and then cars start pulling up behind my car were two of them, one to the side and one behind my car so I couldn’t get out,” Ella Ward said.

She never expected what would happened next.

“She got me, pulled me, hit me and then I blacked out for like a second and then I get back into my car and they are still filming getting into my face filming,” Ella Ward said.

After she fell to the ground in tears, her friends left. She found someone to pick her up and then told her mom.

“When you wake up, you would give anything to kind of rewind to a long time ago where you feel like you could be more impactful and maybe make changes before it could get to this place,” Ursula Ward, mother, said.

School officials are investigating what happened.

“We don’t stand for bullying and we don’t allow that and when they come to us, we have to investigate and that is a hard investigation but we do that,” Principal Peter Wilson, Sturgis Brown High school Principal, said.

The school is being proactive by working together with counselors, School Resource Officers, and the community.

“There is a lot of bullying here and they need to do something about it, something,” Ella Ward said.

“More importantly, yes we do reach out to the school to help us but it does probably need to start at the home. Ultimately as parents or as family, that’s our ultimate responsibility and that’s where it needs to start with first,” Ursula Ward.

I also spoke with the Sturgis Police Department who say they have been tracking down all the individuals involved, conducting interviews, and investigating the whole situation.

At this time, it is unknown whether or not any charges have been filed.