The transgender Maine high schooler who assaulted a high school girl on Friday was the subject of previous sexual harassment complaints at a different Maine school just months before video emerged showing him viciously attacking a classmate outside Mount Desert Island High School in Bar Harbor.
The video, one of two showing the violent attack, did not capture the entirety of the altercation or the animalistic brutality of the assault on the smaller female student, who spoke to the Maine Wire along with her parents on the condition of anonymity.
According to the victim and her parents, the attacker—a biological male who has identified as female for several years—struck the victim in the head with a steel water jug, was growling as she pinned her down on the sidewalk, and gnawed on her eye before grabbing her by her hair and smashing her head into the concrete.
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An additional, unreleased video obtained by the Maine Wire, along with the initial video released on X by John Cardillo, confirm the family’s account of the attack and show the attacker twice striking the young girl with his metal water bottle before taking her to the ground, straddling her, biting her, and attempting to rip out her hair.
“He full on attacks her, gets on top of her and pins her down,” the mother told the Maine Wire. “So she’s not even able to defend herself in any way because he’s bigger, he’s heavier, he’s like six-feet tall,” she said. “And then he begins biting her eye and, my daughter said, while he was chewing on her eye he was growling.”
“He’s grabbing handfuls of hair and smashing her head off the pavement,” she said. “All the while the teachers, the principal is crouched down next to them.”
“When you’re smashing somebody’s head off pavement with that type of force, what is your intent? Your only intent is probably to kill that person,” she said.
The attacker—whom the Maine Wire is declining to identify as he is also a minor—had only recently begun injecting himself with estrogen as part of hormone replacement therapy, according to his Instagram profile.
“The whole time, she’s just screaming for help, crying and screaming, ‘somebody help.’ And nobody helped her,” the victim’s mother said.
“The principal sat there and screamed at them instead of helping. And [her daughter] said, ‘Mom, I really thought I was going to die. I thought that was it. I thought I was never going to see you again.’ And that’s probably the hardest thing to hear,” the mother said.
“That really haunts me,” she said.
The principal of Mount Desert Island High School, Matthew K. Haney, did not respond to a phone call asking for comment about the attack.
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After the Maine Wire contacted Haney for comment, his social media account was deleted from X. (After the publication of this story, Superintendent Mike Zboray sent a statement, which is posted below and appended in full at the end of this story.)
In the videos, a male voice can be heard instructing the attacker to release his victim’s hair. The videos show the male student walking away after the assault ends, while his victim remains on the pavement screaming.
The victim and the attacker have known each other since they attended elementary school together. Both students previously attended a public school in Ellsworth — 20 miles from Bar Harbor — before transferring to the high school on Mount Desert Island, a island Maine community typically known for its lux coastal mansions and bustling tourist traps.
According to the parents, the altercation stemmed from earlier comments made on social media involving the attacker and a friend of the victim. Although the Maine Wire was unable to locate the comments in question, the victim’s parents acknowledged that their daughter made aggressive comments toward her attacker in defense of a friend.
All three of the students regularly rode the same school bus together, but on Friday morning, when the young man came aboard the bus, he headed for the victim’s friend and began attacking her, according to the victim’s mother.
“There was no warning,” the mother said. “He just immediately hopped on the bus and went right after her.”
That’s when the girl seen in the original viral video began to physically intervene in defense of her friend.
At that point, the bus was roughly 20-mins from the high school.
The bus driver, “Bob,” was able to separate the students and radio the school to have help standing by for when he arrived.
The video camera on the school bus captured the altercation; however, none of that video has been released.
When the bus finally arrived at MDI HS, Haney was waiting near the sidewalk. The two female students, whom the bus driver had separated at the front of the bus, exited the vehicle first.
As she was walking away from the bus, Haney said something to the young girl that caused her to turn around, approach the principal, and begin yelling at him over the lack of protection for her friend.
As she was approaching Haney, the male student exited the bus and was able to grab ahold of the female student, which began the physical altercation captured in the viral video that circulated widely on Tuesday. The video of the assault, first posted online by media personality John Cardillo and soon picked up by Libs of TikTok, garnered tens of millions of views.
In the video, Haney can be seen in a green jacket standing by the fighting students, almost like a referee observing a wrestling match. According to the victim’s parents, it was only the actions of the bus driver that prevented the assault from doing more damage or perhaps even killing their daughter.
“If it had not been for that bus driver, he was able to grab [the male student’s] hand, and that’s the only reason that, probably that my daughter’s alive right now,” the mother said.
The parents said that, to the best of their knowledge, the bus driver, whom they only knew as “Bob,” was a retired former police officer who is now facing an investigation from the school district for intervening to halt the assault.
In a written statement, the district superintendent denied that the bus driver had been placed on leave; however, he did not comment on whether there was or would be an investigation into his conduct.
The attacker was temporarily suspended from school, but so was his victim.
The victims’ parents said they are prepared to pursue every legal avenue available to hold the attacker, the school district, and Haney accountable for the actions—and inactions—that left their daughter concussed and with vision-impairing damage.
Haney, who has also worked as an athletic director and sports coach, has been the principal of MDI High School in Bar Harbor for 12 years, and he was an assistant principal at the school for eight years prior, after previous stints teaching and coaching at public schools in Old Town and Sumner.
Since the attack, the girl has had two medical consultations and will soon have a CAT scan on her skull to determine whether an orbital bone fracture is causing the temporary blurring and loss of vision that she has been experiencing.
Photos shared with the Maine Wire show extensive bruising around the girl’s right eye as well as tears in her scalp where several of clumps of hair were yanked from her head during the attack.
According to the parents and local media reports, this was not the first time that the transgender student had caused trouble for other students in Maine’s public school system.
The student previously attended Ellsworth High School, where school administrators allowed him to use the girl’s bathrooms because he claimed to identify as a female.
In February, the boy’s conduct while using the girls’ restrooms—which allegedly included peeping at girls, taking cellphone pictures of other students in the restrooms, and even masturbating—prompted roughly 20 Ellsworth High School students to stage a protest.
The student protesters, who included the victim of Friday’s attack, held signs that read, “I should not be afraid to use the bathroom,” “Protect our bodies,” and “No more peeking through the door.”
According to a news report from the Ellsworth American, the school administration was hostile to the protesting students, made no changes to school policies, and claimed that the school’s investigation found no evidence that the alleged misconduct ever occurred.
The school even threatened any students who recorded the protest with suspensions, according to the Ellsworth American.
A review of attacker’s social media posting leading up to the assault revealed dozens of posts about gender transition and gender ideology, contemplation of self-harm and suicide ideation, and frustration with his fellow students.
In one series of posts, the student claimed to have started estrogen hormone replacement therapy, which is a controversial medical treatment sometimes prescribed for individuals experiencing gender dysphoria.
Although the treatments have surged in popularity in progressive states like Maine, European countries and many conservative U.S. states are increasingly discouraging the treatments for minors in favor of psychotherapy.
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In July 2023, Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) signed a law that allows 16- and 17-year-olds to obtain the sex-change drugs — such as the estrogen injections the attacker referred to in Instagram posts — without parental consent.
A previous directive from Gov. Mills changed Maine’s Medicaid billing practices to allow sex-change treatments to be covered under Medicaid, which is a taxpayer-funded medical welfare program for the poor and indigent.
The result is that 16- and 17-year-olds in Maine are now able, in some cases, to obtain taxpayer-funded sex-change drugs without their parents knowledge or consent.
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Although the victim’s parents are only at the early stages of exploring their legal options, they have considered filing a suit against the pharmaceutical companies, as they do not believe it’s a coincidence that the attack occurred just weeks after the young man began experimental hormone replacement therapy.
The parents are in contact with the local police department and have filed for a protection from abuse order; however, the situation is complicated by how close the two minors live to one another, as well as the fact that they share a school bus and attend the same school.
The mother said that, in addition to the physical injuries her daughter sustained, she’s also suffering emotionally and has been extremely fearful of being alone since the attack, and that she’s expressed fear about her safety should she return to MDI High School.
“I just f***ing tears me apart,” the mother said.
“I couldn’t imagine, you know, we, we send our children to school in hopes that, of course, something like this would never happen, but that if I did , that, somebody, anybody, any of these f***ing teachers that are trained, you know, they go through all these f***ing trainings for what? To not use them?” she said.
The Maine Wire was unable to contact the parents or legal guardian of the attacker.
After publication of this story, the Maine Wire received the following reply from Mike Zboray, the superintendent of MDIRSS/AOS#91, which includes MDI High School:
As you are aware, a fight occurred in front of MDIHS Friday morning. Due to privacy concerns and confidentiality requirements, I cannot legally share more about the incident or anyone involved. However, I assure you that school officials are taking the matter seriously and are handling it in accordance with our policies and procedures.
Every student altercation is different, and administrative staff are trained to intervene by utilizing a range of de-escalation strategies from verbal cues to physical restraint (as a last resort, per Maine law). Every situation provides an opportunity to learn, for both students and staff, and we are always working to improve how we protect all students and staff. I trust our staff to follow their training and use their judgment in the best interests of those involved in these difficult situations.
I will also share that there are some untrue rumors connected to this event. One stated that the bus driver was on leave, which is untrue. Another accusation is that administrative staff bribed students with community service and sent a mass email to students to delete the video. Those are also untrue.
Every Trans ANYTHING people are mentally psychotic. When will this BS stop and recognize this???? That person is a guy with a prostate who beat the crap out of girl. Why didn’t the principal or bus driver step in, and knock some sense into this nutjob?
I would recommend any parent of a young girl that they be taught self defense. We did with our daughter.
This young lady should have kicked that boys ass.
No more sacred cows. That poor girl, the boy who brutally attacked her needs to be locked up & receive mental health treatment. This “trans” lie is hurting children in multiple ways. That school district harmed that poor girl, that principal needs to be put on leave immediately pending investigation, but I expect him to lose his job for his failure to be fair & so his job. He didn’t act! No more sacred cows in the form of this “trans” lie.
The most protected class in the country these days are boys delusionally thinking they’re girls. Despite all the SCIENTIFIC and mammalian evidence to the contrary the left thinks supporting this illness is helping these poor souls. How many girls are going to get hurt or worse by these males because the left are terrified of offending them. And now we have Governor Mengele Mills allowing teens to by-pass their parents and go for hormone treatments on their own. Apparently Mills and the democrats in this state only care about girls as long as they can kill their unborn child. All you 18, 19 and 20 year old girls voting for the first time remember votes matter. The Biden/Harris administration let loose thousands of illegal immigrant sexual predators loose on the streets of this country. Keep voting democrat. Putting them in the White House for 4-8 more years the Soros appointed judges will be letting out the rapist for time served after raping your future daughter. In the mean time let’s stop pretending transsexuality isn’t a mental illness.
Where are the (fake) feminists?
The trans community is a walking mental health crisis. These men are disgusting and the people going along with their delusions (looking at you therapists) are just as guilty.
These men aren’t women. Never will be and never have been. They need intensive psycho therapy.
The people who allow this in schools are cowards.
They’ll probably fire the bus driver and promote the cowardly Principal while transferring the victim and paying for fake counseling for the boy whom ME Med is making money off.
His parents are sick and not fit to be parents.
That people vote for and rationalize this mental illness are as wrong.
“Social Media”…..do I have to say more.
They closed our Childrens psych unit at our hospital “Fort Kent” I guess there’s no need up here
There is a possible school shooter right there…
Should have nothing to do with this GUY wanting to be a girl, but it should have everything to do with an ASSAULT that happened on a school bus! This gender BS is just that BS!
Every transgender individual is sick and should be pitied to a certain extent, but the Male to Females are NOTORIOUSLY unstable perverts. Their desire to be women comes from a place of extreme fetishism which rules their every thought.
Your daughters are not safe around these types of kids.
Well Maine this is what you get when you feed and actively encourage perverted fantasies, delusion so people will “look at me, look at me” and then inject these same nut jobs with drugs aka hormones that shouldn’t be in their bodies.
I can understand Matt Haney’s reluctance to step in. Touch a protected class and your life is ruined. Still, he needs a good swift kick between the pockets for being a coward. Unfortunately, any win from a lawsuit will come out of the taxpayer pocket not the $#!+bags on the school board.
ME Infidel “Where are the (fake) feminists?”
Answer: Supporting the fake girl.
Parents are the only solution to these problems . Were this my daughter this trans queer weirdo thing would be in a hospital bed somewhere , and everybody would be discussing whether or not it would ever walk again . It’s time to take control over the out of control crazies in society .
“A fight took place” the school said??? That wasn’t a fight. It was an attack, an assault. The principal stood by as the victim was being assaulted, she could have been killed if the driver hadn’t intervened. Chewing her eye? That’s some seriously mentally ill behavior. This person has a history of bad behaviors and got tossed to MDI like a hot potato. Reminds me of the Catholic church sending sexual offending priests to other churches.
These woke policies are ruining lives, especially when it comes to children. Maine legislators should be ashamed of themselves for enabling confused youth to harm themselves without their parents’ knowledge. And, having the taxpayers pay for it is the icing on the cake.
Thank you wokesters for ruining lives and our society.
Golden is all in on transgenderism being a good and natural thing for our society.
So is AKing .
Lawyer up. That poor victim now owns not only the attackers parents home but also a big payout from the school for not providing reasonable protection. Of course assuming that there is any honest judges left in this shithole liberal state.
The trans issue seemed to become more violent immediately after Audrey Hale executed the Christians in Nashville in March 2023. It certainly appeared to be some type of reflexive, intentional movement that tried to excuse Hale for the murders of innocent children. Trans people have no one to blame but themselves.
Maine public school students now get the experience once reserved for East Los Angeles or Baltimore public school students. Randi Weingarten has led the charge of parents bearing the added financial expense of forgoing public schools in favor of private, or Christian schools where such attacks (except Hale’s spree) are less frequent. Municipalities and state governments need to promote school choice so lower income families can also get the best education for their children.
Time for some “street justice”.
Sounds like he is now identifying as a rabid dog.
Hey PACO , Austin Theriault BELIEVES there are 3 Genders , That little “Queer Bait” Theriault is as big a LIBTARD as any Commie-Crat. All Trannys need a Sleeping Pill , There is no cure
Where all thinking it, I’ll say it. That dude is a psycho. I hope he gets expelled and thrown in jail and released to an institution. People like that are a danger to themselves and others.
Howie Carr had the father on his show yesterday (Wednesday.)
The letter from the School Superintendent is disgusting, and simultaneously makes one want to puke and see to it that the writer, and the school district and related school boards who establish such mind-numbingly crazed policies, are hauled into court and sued into personal bankruptcy, and daily shaming duty in the public town square.
“Every incident is an opportunity to learn?” AYFKM?
If you have to have one of your students beaten silly by some cuckoo to learn a lesson, how many must die to get you to a level of competence?
Obviously, every such incident has resulted in learning all the wrong lessons! Woke pop psycho-babble is turning our culture and society into a collection of depraved, demented, moron-monsters, who are celebrated for their deranged thinking.
Private schools, home schooling, and anything but government schools must become a priority. The Teachers Unions and the politicians they OWN should be listed as defendants in the civil actions that ensue.
Don’t remember sam being one of the brady bunch. Must have been the mentality challenged one they hid in the closet.
the amount of transphobia in this article is NOT ok whatsoever. I am not defending the attacker, I think what SHE did was horrible and disgusting, and should get in a lot of more trouble, but this does not give you people ANY excuse to be transphobic. Its genuinely disgusting and these are also KIDS you are talking about, so think before you speak. You could’ve done a better job writing this article, steve robinson. You did not even have to mention anything about her identity, why is that such an important factor to this?
I don’t agree with anonymous that transvestites are genuinely disgusting. I think they have pretty mouths.
Well, he wanted to have sex like a girl. I’m sure his cellmate will oblige…
The offending family of this psycho needs to go find a new place to live . We don’t need their kind of drama here . Go away and take your sick ass kid with you .
The boy should be expelled and go to jail!!
“Were this my daughter this trans queer weirdo thing would be in a hospital bed somewhere , and everybody would be discussing whether or not it would ever walk again . It’s time to take control over the out of control crazies in”. SURE- because violence is the answer – just like more guns are the answer to the gun problem. Talk about crazy?
Teenage boys shouldn’t be given estrogen, seems like that should be common sense. Talk about hormones going crazy. It’s a stupid and dangerous thing to do.
Making this tragedy into an ideological war or talking point is frankly disgusting. I think we should be caring more about handling situations like this and now getting help for the victim and giving proper punishment to the attacker rather than forcing whatever your opinion on transgender people is.
Liberalism…the scourge in American society….what you get when you elect Democrats.
The thug should be juvie or an asylum and the principal should be out of a job.
I hope the victims and their parents sue the ass off the school.
Can anyone please tell me a positive benefit of bending over backwards for these “transgenders”? please somebody tell me im being completely serious how does this benefit society in any way? i only see negatives and delusion. people saying it’s ok because it’s easier to be nice than face the problems with it. HOW??? What new avenue is being explored here other than insanity?
Hate Hate Hate Hate. Get a life.
This was not a “fight”, nor an “altercation”- it was an assault on a girl. The police should have been called, and the boy arrested. Girls are not safe when these monsters are around. There is an escalation of violence towards actual females, and no-one cares.
And where are the teachers on this, afraid to take a stand to protect your children or are they just fine with grooming your children. I am thinking they are just fine with it, since they all seem to be promoting it in their classrooms. Watch the video of Pingree, Walz, Mills reading porn to your kids.
All I can say, is where is this girls father? That Tranny freak will be 18/an adult soon, and needs to get his face rearranged….
Show HIS face. Shame the hell out of HIM! Enough is enough. Let HIS identity be known to protect other real females. I’m so sick of this BS.
Every “Adult” who stood there watching as this Boy attacked that poor girl needs to be fired, sorry, when the BOY is beating up a girl and all you do is tell them to stop, and not actually step in and stop the beat down, you don’t belong around children!
This would have drawn the wrath of the boys in my day.
Fire this clown
Mentally ill people such as this use to be institutionalized. As they should be. They are clearly a danger to themselves as well as other.
My takeaway from this article: 1. When female students report and protest they are being surveyed (peeped at) in the bathroom those who should take them seriously don’t. 2. When a young woman defends another woman from assault, she should be punished (by being suspended). 3. When a young woman is brutally assaulted by a male, she should be punished because it probably is her fault.
This is horrifying beyond belief.
As for admin standing around saying “stop it!” I can say that a school professional, I have been trained in crisis intervention. You are allowed to lay hands on a student and use restraint and seclusion if the student is causing bodily harm to staff or student. There was absolutely no reason for the adults at hand to physically intervene. Bravo to the bus driver for doing what was right.
The school district owes hat brutalized young woman much more than an apology. Much, much more.
So if these kids are on social media then there is no reason to not post their pictures and names. They put themselves out there so why are you concerned about privacy, they are obviously not. Stop protecting them it does no good and just perpetuates this psychotic behavior. Maine citizens are you getting it yet?! Rhetorical question folks.
That animal needs to be put down
The war on women, perpetuated by leftist Democrats, continues.