A 12-year-old girl who died days after getting struck on the head with a metal water bottle during an alleged bullying altercation at Reseda Charter High School, prompting an arrest and legal action by her family, died of natural causes, the Los Angeles County medical examiner’s office said on Wednesday, May 20.
Khimberly Zavaleta was struck Feb. 17 in a hallway at the campus —for grades 6-12 — as she stepped in to defend her sister, who was being bullied by other students, relatives said.
She was sent home after being treated at a hospital, but collapsed days later and was taken to UCLA Children’s Hospital, where she was placed in an induced coma and underwent emergency brain surgery but died on Feb. 25.
According to the medical examiner, her cause of death was a “spontaneously ruptured cerebellar arteriovenous malformation” — ruptured blood vessels from a congenital abnormality — and the death was deemed to be natural.
The medical examiner did not link the ruptures to the blow on the head she suffered days earlier.
Khimberly’s family in March filed a damages claim — a possible precursor to a lawsuit — against the Los Angeles Unified School District, contending the girl died because the district had failed to protect her despite previous warnings that she was being bullied.
District officials, while not commenting on the pending legal action, expressed sorrow for Khimberly’s death and vowed to cooperate with the police investigation.
“The Los Angeles Unified School District is deeply saddened by the death of a Reseda (Chater) High School student,” the district said in a statement. “Our thoughts and condolences are with the student’s family, friends, and the entire school community.”
A juvenile suspect was arrested on suspicion of murder in connection with the case on April 2, according to various media reports. The status of that suspect was not immediately clear.
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