O’Fallon Teen Attacked Near Her Home

O’Fallon police are investigating an allegedly unprovoked attack of a 15-year-old girl Sunday night. However, police believe it is an isolated incident. “This appears to be isolated,” said O’Fallon Police Sgt. Rob Schmidtke. “It sounds like a kid thing.”

O’Fallon business owner and resident Tim Petterson of Petterson Landscaping said his daughter Haley, a sophomore at O’Fallon Township High School (OTHS), was attacked by two girls near her mother’s home on West Adams Street in O’Fallon.

Petterson said Haley’s dog “Teddy” got loose around 9:30 p.m. Sunday night, and she was trying to retrieve the dog when two black girls approached her. “They said ‘This is our territory white girl,’” he said. “One grabbed her by the hair, and the other one started hitting her in the face.”

Sgt. Schmidtke confirmed the details of the attack. “Her dog got out, and she went into the cemetery (on Adams Street). There was a couple of other kids out there,” he said. “They basically pulled her down and hit her a couple of times.”

Petterson said luckily some neighbors turned on their outside lights to see what the commotion was about, and the two attackers ran off. The attack left Haley, who was already dealing with a hairline fracture to her tibia, with a badly swollen left eye and pieces of hair missing.

“The fact that they attacked her with the cast on is amazing,” Petterson said, noting his daughter was in no condition to run away.

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Haley didn’t know her attackers, according to her father. “This was just a random act,” Petterson said. He described his daughter as “very friendly” with a “bubbly laugh.”

Petterson said Haley is “traumatized” by the attack and stayed home from school Monday. {snip}

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