ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — Lucy was a 13-year-old student at R.J. Murray Middle School when an attack inside the school left her injured and embarrassed. According to the family’s attorney, the violence was not random. He says it followed days of threats that had been circulating among students on social media.
Video recorded in January of 2025 and later shared on Instagram shows Lucy backing away before another student grabs her by the hair and swings her to the ground. As the video continues, Lucy can be seen covering her head while she is repeatedly punched. Photos taken afterward show spots where her hair was pulled out from the root.
Mike Balangue of Campione Law is representing Lucy and her family in a lawsuit against the St. Johns County School District. He says the attack came after threats that had been building during Christmas break.
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<
Balangue says Lucy and her mother tried to warn the school the morning it happened. According to the attorney, Lucy reported the threats to the dean as soon as she arrived at school because the last message warned that someone planned to hurt her when they saw her at school. Lucy’s mother also contacted administrators that same morning, asking them to keep an eye on her daughter.
An email sent that day shows Lucy’s mother reaching out to school staff just hours before the fight.
But the attorney says when the students later went to P.E., there was no one around to stop what happened next.
Balangue says there was no supervision nearby when several students surrounded Lucy and the attack began.
He also claims the school’s response afterward made the situation even more difficult for the teenager. Instead of immediately addressing her medical needs and contacting her parents, Balangue says Lucy was brought into a peer mediation and made to confront the student who had just attacked her.
[DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks]
The family says the experience was humiliating. They eventually pulled Lucy out of the school, and she has been homeschooled ever since.
The student accused of attacking Lucy did face juvenile criminal charges, but it is unclear what the outcome of that case was.
Now the family is taking legal action against the school district. Their attorney says many families move to St. Johns County because of the reputation of its schools, but he believes this was a moment when the system failed to protect a student.
When Action News Jax reached out to the district for comment, a spokesperson said they could not comment because of pending litigation.
Balangue says the family hopes the case can be resolved through an agreement, but if that does not happen, they are prepared to take the case to trial.
[SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter]
Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live.