Upper Darby Twp., PA -
An Upper Darby Township mother is free on bail, after police arrested her for forcing her daughter to fight another girl. It happened over the weekend, and a bystander caught it all on cell phone video.
In the video, you hear the mother, 45-year-old Michele Davenport, say to her daughter's opponent, "I want to see her kick your a**, that's what I want to see." The fight was instigated not by the two girls involved, but by Davenport, who can be heard warning bystanders to stay out of it. "And I'm her mother, and she's going to do it. And not one of these girls is going to f***ing jump in, because if they jump in, I'm jumping in, you understand me?"
Police say Davenport insisted that her daughter stand up for herself, claiming that the girl had been bullied. So Davenport's daughter throws the first punch, her mother encouraging her the entire time. Davenport is heard saying, "Get her down now."
FOX 29 is not revealing the identities of the girls, since they're under age. And we had to heavily edit the audio before we could broadcast the fight, because of all of Davenport's profanity. Police say it's not an example any adult should set. "You got her daughter with a bloody nose, you got the other kid with a concussion, all because the mother acted like a moron, pure and simple," Superintendent Michael Chitwood of the Upper Darby Police Department told reporters.
Police say the other girl, who is also 12, sustained a concussion from the fight. They say her parents had to take her to the hospital that night. The video was shot on a cell phone by one of at least three other girls who witnessed the fight. At one point, one of them says she doesn't want to watch anymore. The girl in blue even holds out her hand to Davenport's daughter to make peace. But Davenport won't allow it, yelling at her daughter to keep fighting.
Mary Poulton knows Davenport's daughter. "She's a nice kid," Poulton told FOX 29. "I don't believe she was pushed into fighting." Superintendent Chitwood told reporters he charged both mother and daughter with assault because, "We have to send a strong message. We will not tolerate it, especially when there's injuries."
Video captures a mom who appears to force her daughter to fight with another girl.
