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Kelloggsville schools, Wyoming PD investigating altercation at high school

Posted at 1:00 PM, Apr 21, 2017
and last updated 2017-04-21 17:10:42-04

WYOMING, Mich. - Wyoming Police and Kelloggsville school officials are investigating a recent altercation that took place near Kelloggsville High School.

Investigators are now recommending some form of an assault charge against an unidentified teenage boy for allegedly attacking Jennifer Fenstemaker while walking home from school.

Fenstemaker says an argument that started in school became physical during her daily walk home.

"I think my nose is broken," Fenstemaker said. "When I hit the ground my feet came back and hit the top of my head. My phone and glasses are broken, he got me good."

After the altercation, Fenstemaker posted a picture of the injuries to her face on social media with a description of her account of what happened. There have been more than 800 shares of that photograph in a matter of days. Captain Kim Koster, spokesperson for Wyoming Police said they're now pursuing assault charges against the alleged suspect, but says the social media aspect to this case is damaging when it comes to protecting our children.

"Violence is not the answer, it's never going to solve the problem," Capt. Koster said. "But neither is social media. It doesn't bring resolution and I don’t think the social media conversation is how we can make this better."

The alleged suspect was suspended but did come back to school for a short time to finish a supervised one-on-one state-mandated assessment, according to a statement from Samuel Wright, the Superintendent of Kelloggsville Public Schools. Below is the entire statement released by Wright:

The case has been forwarded to the prosecutor's office for review in the juvenile court system.

"It’s disappointing that this happened away from school property," Capt. Koster said. "It happened right outside the school property and it’s turned into a social media publicity type of event. I think we can come up with better solutions than that."