A birthday celebration in the lunchroom of an East Palmdale high school turned into mayhem when one of the celebrants accidentally dropped a piece of birthday cake. The slipup earned the girl a broken wrist.
Sixteen-year-old Pleajhia Mervin said she dropped her plate of cake when someone bumped into her. A security guard ordered her to pick up the cake from the floor and she complied. But the guard was not satisfied with the cleanup effort and ordered her to pick up the remaining crumbs a second, then a third time.
When she thought she had cleaned up the mess, Mervin started walking away to go to class. Apparently the guard was not satisfied she had picked up all the crumbs. According to
Mervin:
He [security guard] said, 'You have to come pick the rest of this cake up.' So I said, 'I picked it up.' He gets on his walkie-talkie, he got a call, so I just started walking to class, and that's when he grabbed me.
The guard threw Mervin face down onto a lunchroom table and twisted her arms behind her back so hard, he broke her wrist. He also called her a nappy-head.
The incident was captured on cell phone video by another student at the high school. Once the guard realized he was being videotaped, he released Mervin and tackled the student who was videotaping him. Another student captured still images of the scuffle.
Latrisha Majors, mother of Mervin, claimed she was accused of battering the principal when she went to the school to see her daughter. She was also arrested and spent a night in jail. She
commented:
This has caused such a disruption in my life. I try to explain this, but I can't. The 'nappy-head' thing, she doesn't understand that there is prejudice going on every day, all day long. It's not right.
In response, Susan McDonald, principal of the high school issued the following
statement:
I can just comment we did have an incident at our school last week. However, I would like to emphasize that we do have a safe campus. I've been working with our staff, with my district office staff, community leaders, and parents, to ensure that we continue to keep our campus safe for all students, but I want people to know that our focus here is academic excellence for all students.
As for Pleajhia, the cost of dropping her piece of birthday cake is very high. She has been expelled from the school, ticketed for littering and accused of battering the security guard who broke her wrist. Her mother has retained a lawyer and vowed to sue the school district.
A Fox 11 News video which includes an interview with Mervin and her mother can be viewed
here. Or you can view the ABC7 News report
here.
