Schoolboy arrested after girl, 13, dropped head first on concrete and paralysed

A teenage boy has been arrested after a 13-year-old girl was dropped head first onto a concrete playground and paralysed.

“Bubbly and funny” Neeka Atkinson, who her family say has been bullied for the past year, was at Archbishop Sentamu Academy in Hull, East Yorkshire, when the incident took place last Friday.

Her sister, Alisha Atkinson, claimed staff at the school initially said Neeka had been involved in an “accident” and was suffering from “sunstroke”.

But when a relative collected her from the secondary school, they called an ambulance, and she was rushed to the nearest hospital.

Ms Atkinson claims she’d later heard from Neeka’s school friends that a boy had dropped her on her head before laughing and saying: “She deserved it”.

Doctors put Neeka into an induced coma and took her into surgery – after scans revealed that she’d suffered a life-threatening blood clot on her brain.

And when they tried to rouse her a few days later, her family said Neeka was paralysed down her left hand side and was experiencing seizures.

Now Humberside Police have released a statement saying that a teenage boy had been "arrested" following the incident, and he'd been later released on bail.

A spokesperson said: "Investigations are continuing after a 13-year-old girl was injured in an incident at a Hull school on Friday, 8 July.

"We received a call shortly after 4pm reporting that the girl had suffered a serious injury, reportedly caused by a boy who is known to her, earlier that day whilst at school.

"She was taken to a local hospital, where she has been responding to treatment and currently remains in a stable condition.

"The matter is being investigated by detectives and a number of enquiries have already been carried out to establish the full circumstances surrounding the incident.

"A teenage boy was arrested and interviewed in connection with the incident on Friday before being released on bail whilst our investigation continues."

In a statement, Helen Winn, executive principal of Archbishop Sentamu Academy, said: "We are all desperately worried about our 13-year-old student following an incident last week.

"All our thoughts are with her, her family and her friends at this very difficult time.

"We are enormously grateful for the outstanding work of our healthcare professionals who we know are doing all they can for her.

"Because of the police involvement in the case, we are unable to say anything further at this stage.”

Doctors are now hoping to move Neeka to a hospital in Leeds or Sheffield where she can get further specialist attention, her sister said.