TEXAS CITY, Texas – Bandages now cover multiple areas on a 13-year-old Texas City ISD student’s arms, back, and face.
“I felt like I was going to die,” she said.
Royalty told KPRC 2 that she feels weak as she recovers at her home in Texas City. She says she was stabbed several times with a pocketknife by another Sarah Giles Middle School student.
“I started backing up, and then they started coming towards me,” she recalled. “When she swung, I swung back. And as we started fighting, she started stabbing me.”
Royalty says the fight lasted around 15 minutes before staff was able to break it up. She says she asked them to call an ambulance, but they took her to the school nurse’s office instead.
“They started putting alcohol and stuff on me and cleaning me up,” she recalled.
“Y’all didn’t even attempt to try and call the EMS,” Royalty’s mother, Christina Adkins, said. “Y’all waited to even call me.”
A spokesperson with Texas City ISD says the proper procedure was followed.
She says the school nurse provided initial first aid and called the mother to see about getting transported to the hospital. The spokesperson said it happened at the end of the school day, and the mother was already in the parking lot to pick up her daughter.
But Adkins said she questioned the nurse once she saw her daughter’s injuries.
“I was like, ‘But, why you didn’t call the EMS?’ and she was like, ‘I only did what they told me to do,’” Adkins said.
Now, she’s demanding accountability.
“Nobody has apologized,” she said. “Nobody said nothing. Everybody keeps reaching out asking, from the school district, do we need anything. Yes, some justice.”
The school district says the teen who assaulted Royalty was arrested and is facing felony charges.
The school has temporarily installed metal detectors and they have counselors available.