HILAND PARK — A 14-year-old student has been charged with felony battery following an attack at school on another student Thursday that left the victim in the hospital.
As classes changed at Merritt Brown Middle School on Thursday, one student grabbed another by the hair and slammed her head against the floor, a Bay County Sheriff’s Office incident report said. School resource officer Dawn Branning reported several students ran to find her and told her the victim was “knocked out and bleeding badly” and that she found the girl alert but “extremely upset” and with the left side of her head bloodied.
Tiffany Ann Orlowski, 14, of Fountain, was arrested on a felony battery charge, BCSO said.
The victim is Mikaily Droeder, 14, who underwent brain surgery and is recovering in a local hospital.
“It wasn’t a fight,” Merritt Brown principal Charlotte Marshall said Monday. “I know people keep saying that, but it wasn’t a fight — just one girl doing something to another one.” Merritt Brown is off U.S. 231 near North Star Avenue.
School officials told deputies that shortly after the attack, Mikaily began to deteriorate and Branning said she could not answer simple questions “like what day was it or who the president is.”
At that point, Branning arrested Orlowski.
Mikaily was taken to Gulf Coast Medical Center by her mother and grandfather.
Orlowski’s charge was upgraded to felony battery after it became clear Mikaily would require surgery due to bleeding on the brain, officials said.
Orlowski was put into the custody of the Department of Juvenile Justice, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Ruth Corley said investigators do not yet know what led to the altercation, although Amy Byrne, who with fellow teacher Kerri Morgan tended to Mikaily after the altercation, stated that she held Mikaily after class in an attempt to avoid an incident between the two girls. Byrne thought Orlowski must have waited for Mikaily to come out. Assistant administrator Judy Frye also had sent out an email earlier that day advising faculty to keep an eye on the girls after addressing a situation between them, officials said.
Mikaily’s mother, Carrie Droeder, posted an update on Facebook saying her daughter is “on the road to recovery.”
“She is a very strong and beautiful young lady and sends her love to each and every person that has her in their thoughts,” Droeder said in the post.
Corley confirmed the victim’s condition is improving.