http://www.pnj.com/article/20110317/...n-court-Friday

A 16-year-old Tate High School student accused of sexually assaulting a
14-year-old girl in a classroom is scheduled to appear in juvenile court
at 1 p.m. Friday.

The boy was being held Wednesday in the juvenile detention center on
charges of second-degree sexual battery and indecent exposure.

The News Journal does not identify juveniles involved in crimes unless
they are charged as adults.

The girl has accused the boy of pushing her head toward his genital area
twice as they sat next to each other in a reading class at Tate High on
March 1, according to an Escambia County Sheriff's Office report.

A Sheriff's Office report contains new details about the incident,
including the suspect's statement that he did not force himself on the
girl. The suspect told officers he pulled back his shorts to expose
himself when the girl asked him to, and she then made advances on him.

The Sheriff's Office also interviewed three other students about the
incident.

Two of the students said the suspect exposed himself to them in the
classroom and asked them to look.

The suspect said he was joking with friends and was just acting like he
was going to expose himself, the report said.

All three said they witnessed the incident between the victim and
suspect. But the report does not indicate whether the students indicated
whether the boy was the aggressor.

The teacher saw nothing that went on.

The girl told the Sheriff's Office that was because of where the teacher
was sitting and other students blocking the teacher's view.

"(The girl) stated initially that she did not tell the faculty what
occurred because she feared retaliation from (the suspect) and his
friends," the report states.

The suspect as well as the 14-year-old girl were suspended.