The parents of the Kaylee Gain, a Missouri high school that suffered severe injuries after a viral fight with another teen are pushing for 15-year-old girl to be tried as adult so that she can face harsher punishment for her role in the altercation.
It comes as Gain has been recovering since waking up from a weeks-long coma and being removed from the ICU following the viral fight on March 8 that left her hospitalized with severe injuries. Her family’s attorney, Bryan Kaemmerer, told KSDK she has “limited verbal communication.”
“Kaylee also recently began speech therapy, and has gone on a few short walks with the assistance of hospital staff as she is still unable to ambulate on her own,” the attorney added in a statement. “However, Kaylee does not have any recollection of the altercation that led to her hospitalization.”
The altercation near Hazelwood East High School in St. Louis, Missouri, was caught on cellphone video. It shows a student, identified by advocates as Maurnice DeClue, slamming Gain’s head on the ground. She was charged with assault, but local officials called for her to be tried as an adult.
However, DeClue’s family says the teen wants to apologize to Gain amid more calls for her case to be sent to adult court.
DeClue’s family defended her in a petition, explaining that she was defending herself and asking officials to show compassion in her case, which they say is being weaponized to “define her character and incite racial divisions.”
They touted her as a student with many academic achievements, including being involved in the school’s orchestra and volleyball team. However, Gain’s family believes those accomplishments are being used to “downplay” what occurred, KRCG-TV reported.
“If anything, the accused reported level of intelligence suggest that she was fully capable of understanding that violence of this nature would lead to the devastating injuries that Kaylee has sustained, and therefore…
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