Boy who punched girl at Ardrey Kell High says she punched first, sues her
An Ardrey Kell High School student who was accused of assaulting a Muslim classmate on March 7 filed a lawsuit against her and her family alleging she lied.
He accuses her in the suit of assault and battery and accused her family and allies of defamation and causing him and his family emotional distress. The May 21 lawsuit in Mecklenburg Superior Court alleges she harassed him and punched him in their class before he punched her one time “to defend himself.”
The LEPR Agency, a public relations firm representing the boy, issued a statement to news media about the lawsuit on Wednesday.
The statement alleged the girl’s family and allies made “false statements” that “alleged the minor boy was charged for the incident; made racial and religious slurs; used steroids; and called the incident a ‘brutal beating’ — despite the girl assaulting the boy first, initiating the fight.”
In an interview with The Charlotte Observer in April, the female student said she was defending another girl in class from the male student just before he started targeting her, calling her expletives.
He harassed her and had previously made anti-Muslim comments, she said.
On March 7, the boy punched her in the side of the head, she said, and later shoved her head into a locker.
She said she needed face surgery. Her family held press conferences and called for a hate crime investigation by law enforcement.
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said its investigators determined there was no evidence to support charges under North Carolina ethnic intimidation statutes. An FBI statement said that after an initial assessment, there was no indication that any federal hate-crime laws were violated.
The girl’s family’s accusations made in news conferences, interviews, and on social media were false, the lawsuit said. It said that because of their comments, the boy and his family experienced threats to their home and safety, and experienced physical and emotional trauma. They needed CMPD to do a daily security detail at their home, the lawsuit said, and they all required therapy “to address the emotional trauma and distress of this ordeal.”
Jibril Hough, a spokesperson for the girl’s family who is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit, said the family would have no comment.
He said the lawsuit was “a further attempt to make her attacker the victim. ... Praying for justice and peace.”
The boy’s family is seeking over $50,000 in damages.
This story was originally published May 29, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
