Mom charged with assault for defending her daughter against bullies

A mother is facing an assault charge after confronting a bully at her teenage daughter’s school. Morgan Sellers, 14, has been enduring bullying by a group of kids at her middle school since last fall. “It’s been stressful because I never know what name they’re going to call me each day,” Morgan told WHO-HD. “It makes me feel bad about myself, like I’m not good enough.”

Morgan’s mom, Alisha Morton, 31, says she repeatedly complained about the bullying to the principal, teachers, and superintendent of Northview Middle School in Ankeny, Iowa. She was assured that they would take care of the situation. But nothing changed.

The bullying got so bad that Morgan told her mom she wanted to die.

“For my child to come home and tell me that she wants to die because this child is still doing something that I’ve confronted the school and superintendent about, that kills me inside,” Morton said.

It was the last straw. On Jan. 11, Morton went with her daughter to the school to face the student who was bullying Morgan the most — an eighth-grade boy. During the exchange, another student, a ninth-grade girl, allegedly threatened Morton.

“She said, ‘I’m going to beat your ass. Get the hell out of here,"

Morton said. “I said, ‘You’re a child; you’re not involved in this. Sit back down.’”

When the teen girl wouldn’t back off during the confrontation, Morton put one arm out to block her.

The mom says the student then tried to punch her. Morgan came to her mom’s defense, grabbing the ninth-grade girl’s hands to prevent her from hitting Morton. “I told her when I grabbed her hands, ‘You’re not going to hit my mom,’” Morgan said.

The mom was charged with assault “by admittedly shoving the student during a verbal altercation,” the assault complaint says, according to WHO-HD.