A Reseda girl was protecting her sister when a bully threw a bottle at her head

The grieving mother of a 12-year-old girl who died after a metal bottle was thrown at her head has detailed how her daughter defended her older sister as she suffered massive brain damage after being attacked at her LA high school.

Kimberly Zavaleta was attacked at Reseda High School last week and died Wednesday at a hospital, her mother Elma Chuquipa said.

“During the expulsion, [her sister] I was in the school corridor when a tall boy came up to her … he was pushing her, and my daughter said to him, ‘What’s your problem with me? Let’s go to the principal’s office to talk about it’ – but he ignored him,” a heartbroken Chuquipa told KABC.

When Khimberly went in to protect her sister, someone allegedly threw a metal water bottle at her, hitting her on the head.

“My daughter goes to pull her so that they don’t hit her sister, that’s when [Khimberly] he is hit on the head,” said Chuquipa.

The video of the fight, which has not yet been released, reportedly does not show when the bottle was thrown.

“They were beating his sister … in the video, you can see them pulling [Khimberly]. “One time they hit him hard on the head, which led him to where he is now – in the cold,” said Chuquipa.

The 12-year-old was rushed to the emergency room and appeared to be fine, but days later, he suddenly collapsed, his mother said.

“We took him to the emergency room, where he arrived without any supplies,” said Chuquipa, visibly worried.

“My daughter was there, they tore off her clothes, they gave her CPR, I was very scared, I cried a lot. I had hope that she would wake up where she was,” he added.

An X-ray showed that Khimberly had bleeding on her head, and she was put on a catheter before being transferred to another hospital.

“The doctor said, ‘We will have to operate on her. We will open this part of her skull to drain all the blood,'” said Chuquipa, recalling how she pleaded with the doctor to “save my daughter.”

Doctors then warned her that any further surgery would only have a 1% chance of success, and said that Khimberly was already brain dead.

“It was very painful for me to leave my daughter at the hospital hoping to return home,” said Chuquipa.

“He always told me, ‘I will never leave you.’ When I was there, I said to him, ‘You told me you would never leave me.'”

Khimberly’s death is now being investigated as a homicide, but the LAPD’s Robbery-Homicide Division, Valley Bureau Section, said no other information will be released because the case involves children.

LAUSD also expressed grief over the death. A GoFundMe page has been set up to help with the family’s funeral and medical expenses.

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