Shantae Payne, a 15-year-old transgender freshman is seen in a disturbing video being jumped by two boys at Pebblebrook High School in Mableton, Georgia. The incident took place Tuesday, Nov. 8, but the video wasn't posted online until Shantae decided to share it on her Instagram, Thursday (Nov. 11). She later sent the video to Gaye Magazine to bring awareness of her attack due to school officials failing to discipline all of her attackers.
"My school had expelled one boy, but there are some other boys out there and they're still in school, and this situation happened two days ago," Shantae expressed to Gaye Magazine.
In the 10 second video, which was posted to a student's close friends story on Instagram and recorded, Shantae can be seen being punched, kicked and stomped by two boys as she lay in the grass of the school's grounds.
Shantae tells Gaye she recalls waiting to switch between her third and fourth period class outside before someone "snuck" and hit her on the side of her head, causing her to "blackout".
"Third going on fourth period I was outside and I was looking at something, just looking, and then I got hit from the side of my head, I blacked out. And then I woke up, dizzy and everything, and I was trying to find my balance and I see a teacher grabbing me trying to pick me up from the floor."
As the teacher transported her to the front office, Shantae says she "blacked out again on the way" before coming back conscious just before they gave her a ice pack to put on her head. She then adds that she didn't know she was jumped until after looking at messages from a group chat on her phone.
"I'm seeing a video of me getting jumped, and I'm like 'oh my god' that's me! That's me getting jumped," she says.
She further adds, "I don't feel jumped. I mean my head feels like I hit my door, and I have a scratch on my arm. And I was like I don't even know the boys, I don't know their names or anything."
Despite the video only showing two boys attacking her, students told Shaunte that there were 4 boys who jumped her while she was unconscious. One of the boys from the video, who's nickname is "Dman", has not yet been disciplined.
"He's basically sharing the fight video around the school now and people thought it was funny...he was at school today. Everybody and his friends was saying that I posted the video for clout, but I been had my 14K [followers] before this. Like, his friends was coming at me saying 'oh your a boy', basically misgendering me," Shantae tells Gaye.
When asked the reason why the school has not yet disciplined "Dman" after identifying him in the video, she shares that the principle spoke with her and said, "it's a process."
"The boys said you sent sexual messages and you've texted them and it made him feel uncomfortable and his friends was teasing and making fun of him," the principle told Shantae.
"I was baffled by it because I was like I never met them a day in my life before. Not in person. The only conversation I had with one of them boys before was over somebody else's phone on their Instagram account a week or two ago when he was talking about me and my transition to them and I had checked him on it because it had nothing to do with him."
Shantae shares that she just transferred to Pebblebrook High School a month ago and earlier in the day before her attack she was approached by Dman's friend telling her that Dman wants to fight in the boys bathroom.
"He pointed to his friend [Dman] behind us by the door and I'm like who are you? And he was like 'the messages", so I put two and two together of him being the boy who I checked before on my friend's phone, and said, 'I'm not going in no boys bathroom because I'm not no boy'. Right at that moment, the teachers came and dismissed it... so then everything was smooth, but then later I got hit off guard and blacked out."
Shantae tells Gaye that she began her transition at the age of 10 and doesn't live with her mother or her dad, but she lives with her older cousin, her legal guardian.
"My friends also have contact with them, and while I was unconscious they knew before I even knew."
Shantae's injuries were assessed by a doctor who confirmed that she did not have a concussion and that she should be fine. She was then given some information about transitioning.
Gaye will continue to report this story as more information is provided upon contact the school.
Shantae's video was taken down by Instagram. Below is a screen shot of her caption.
