YORK COUNTY, S.C. — In February of last year, a 14-year-old girl says her innocence was taken away in a York County neighborhood.
The girl, who did not want to be identified, told Channel 9 that a 16-year-old classmate that she had considered a “best friend” started to act inappropriately on a school bus ride.
“I was confused on, like, what was happening because he knew me and my boundaries. So after that bus ride, I was uncomfortable. I wanted to go home,” the girl explained.
She said when they got off the school bus, she asked him to stop. She told him she didn’t like what he was doing and just wanted to talk. She said she thought he understood.
“But then we were walking around, and he changed the location of where we were going to be. So he brought me to a different, more secluded area, and at first I didn’t really think much of it, because it was like towards a bridge area that you just had to walk past, and then you would see more again. But that’s when the majority of the assault happened,” the girl elaborated. “He kept asking me to do stuff. I kept saying, ‘No, no, no.’ And then he said, ‘I only live once.’ He was like, ‘You only live once.’ That’s where I kept making it clear I didn’t want to do anything. I just was begging someone in my mind to just come by and see what was happening.’
Afterward, the girl said she started walking to where her mother was picking her up.
“He immediately started apologizing because he said that he thought I was mad at him,” the girl said. “And as soon as my mom was actually there when we walked up to her car, I started hysterically crying. I felt it was my fault for the whole thing, for even, like, going to hang out with him.”
A few weeks later, the 14-year-old girl said she told her mother, and together they reported the incident to the York County Sheriff’s Office. Channel 9 obtained a copy of that police report. In it, the suspect admitted sexually assaulting the girl.
“I had so much rage, because I knew who this kid was, and I knew how much she cared about him as a friend, and I was also in shock too,” the girl’s mother told Channel 9.
In the months that followed, the girl and her mother started the Warrior Within podcast as a way to share their story. They said young girls listened to the podcast and began emailing them to share their stories.
The teen said listening to other victims’ stories has helped her heal. It also sparked the motivation to start season two of the podcasts this week.
“It just makes me feel better knowing that I could actually be helping somebody because my hurt could turn into something more beautiful, like the community of people who need each other to get through something like that,” the girl explained.
Channel 9 spoke with Safe Alliance, a local group that advocates for survivors of sexual assault. They shared that this teen’s story is all too familiar.
If you or someone you love is a victim of sexual assault, you can receive help from the Hope Line. That line can be reached at 980-771-HOPE.
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