"I saw the back door of the bus flying open," King continued. "A girl come flying out. Another girl came after her. Then some more students."
King estimated that about 15 to 20 students poured out of the back door of the bus, kicking and punching the "girl" who had come flying out. But it was no "girl." It was Kreager. King said she thought Kreager was a male student at Poole. Assistant state's attorney Dawn Jones asked King why she thought Kreager was a boy.
"The brutality of it," King answered. "I associate that kind of behavior with boys. I never thought it would be girls. I guess I'm kind of old school."
We could use more of King's old school values these days. The era when terms like "lady" and "lady-like behavior" meant something are a thing of the past. I've had folks who work in Baltimore schools tell me -- off the record, of course -- that the most vicious fights these days involve girls, not boys.
King watched in horror as Kreager was punched and kicked into the curb. She shouted at the students to stop, telling them that they might end up killing her. When her daughter came out to see what was happening, King ordered her to go back in the house and call 911. Only when her daughter reappeared and yelled, "The police are on their way!" did the attack stop.
As Kreager lay beaten and bleeding in the street, King ran to her, held Kreager's head close to her body and helped her up, she said.
"My main objective was to get her away, to get her into my house," King testified.
Before King could get Kreager into her house, Ennis came running up. Kreager identified Ennis as her husband. (Kreager and Ennis called each other "wife" and "husband" several times during their testimony, although they aren't legally married.) King then said she went up to the bus driver and asked him, "What happened on there?"
That answer will come Monday, when the bus driver is scheduled to testify. But for the first time since Dec. 4, Baltimoreans have now heard from someone who had no dog in the fight, either the literal or figurative one.
And that person, Joyce King, might be the only genuine hero in this sorry tale.
gregory.kane@baltsun.com
