Two White Students, 10 And 11, Charged With Harrassment, Assault For Alleged Harassment Of African-American Classmate

Two white students are facing charges for allegedly attacking an African-American student on a school bus in Upstate New York.

The alleged attack occurred Sept. 10 in Gouverneur, and involved two white girls, ages 10 and 11, and a 10-year-old African America girl. The two white students used racist language, then the 11-year-old allegedly began pulling out the victim's hair and punching her. The victim suffered a black eye and a bruised knee.

Police received a complaint from the victim’s parent. The two white girls were identified and charged with harassment. The 11-year-old faced an additional assault charge.

Tiffany Spicer, 28, the First Student bus driver, was charged with three counts of endangering the welfare of a child for failing to intervene. Police said Spicer is also white.

“We’ve reached out to various resources we have access to, to provide additional training to our staff and additional training, support, recognition, conversation to our student body,” Gouverneur school superintendent Lauren French said, according to Watertown, New York, CBS-affiliate, WWNY-TV. French also said she reached out to First Student, asking it to provide additional training to bus drivers.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a statement Wednesday he was "appalled by the reports of the horrendous, 20-minute racist assault."

"That this was allegedly perpetrated by her own classmates, on a school bus with an adult monitor present, makes this incident even more shocking and troubling," he said. "When we put our children on the bus to school, we are entrusting others with our most precious resource and this was an egregious and inexcusable violation of that trust.”