Mom says daughter was provoked before fight at San Rafael mall
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SAN RAFAEL, Calif. - A Marin County mother says a video of her 11-year-old daughter fighting another child outside Northgate Mall only tells part of the story, claiming her daughter was taunted and provoked before the physical altercation.
Daesharee Logan said the online video of her daughter, Iryuna Bivins, shows only a glimpse of the incident. She claims a longer video exists that captures the events leading up to the violence.
According to Logan, Iryuna was hanging out with her friend, Taleah Vasquez, last Saturday. The two girls planned to go to Safeway. Iryuna said Taleah invited another girl, Brook-Lynn, to join them. While Brook-Lynn was on speakerphone, Iryuna said she overheard the girl talking about her.
Nonetheless, the girls met up to hang out, according to Iryuna, who said that Brook-Lynn’s father drove the group to Safeway, and then the girls walked to the mall.
Escalation in the food court
The backstory:
Iryuna said she and Brook-Lynn were initially kidding around, but the situation escalated in the food court.
"She stepped on my shoe, and then I said, 'Don't do that,' and then she was like, 'Shut the [expletive] up,'" Iryuna recalled.
Iryuna said she told Brook-Lynn to shut up, and that's when the girl started throwing food at her.
"I threw some food back. And then she threw food at my hair," Iryuna explained. "So then I grabbed the air freshener out of her bag that she had from Safeway, and I started spraying her with it, and then [she] started chasing me around the mall."
Iryuna clarified that she never hit Brook-Lynn with the bottle.
When Iryuna ran outside, the other girls followed. Iryuna said Taleah recorded the encounter, and that the longer video shows Brook-Lynn trying to provoke a fight.
"I tried to run back inside the mall, but then she slapped me hard on the back of my neck," Iryuna said.
Mother defends daughter
What they're saying:
Logan said that was the moment her daughter defended herself. She argued the partial clip online unfairly portrays Iryuna as the sole aggressor.
"My daughter personally was not trying to go there until she put her hands on her, and she had no choice at that point but to defend herself," Logan said. She added that she does not promote violence and teaches her daughter to exhaust other options before using physical force.
Logan also refuted claims that her daughter was taken into custody, stating that officers only took a statement.
"When I talked to them, they said she wasn't under arrest," Logan said, adding that her daughter wanted to speak with police to give her account.
Logan underscored that her child is not a violent person, despite the online "bashing" they have received.
Conflicting account
The other side:
Logan said she has not spoken to Brook-Lynn’s father, Brett Adams, who shared a starkly different account of the altercation on Monday, saying his daughter was left beaten and bruised.
"There's always going to be fights, but this was an attack — a brutal attack," Adams previously said.
Adams said the fight began in the food court while the girls were eating. Brook-Lynn told KTVU that the confrontation began because Iryuna was spraying air freshener at them.
"I put my hand over her shoulder to try to get the Febreze bottle from her," Brook-Lynn recalled, pointing to her injuries. "She turned around and hit me in the arm with the bottle. My head was down like this... my hair was in front of my face. She grabbed my hair and pulled me onto the floor and started beating me."
Taleah said she tried to intervene, throwing her phone aside to push Iryuna off Brook-Lynn.
Adams expressed deeper concern over the culture surrounding youth violence on social media.
"I want to shine a light on these kids on social media who are watching videos of kids getting beat up and jumped, and it's sick," Adams said. "We need to do something as parents. This is a different generation. This isn't the Marin County I grew up in."
Logan agreed that parents need to come together to prevent these situations.
"When we send our kids out there, we want to make sure they are safe," Logan said. "We don't want that call. So I'm trying to keep mine safe."
Authorities said they can only provide limited information on the incident because it involves minors.
The Source: This story was based on interviews with Daesharee Logan; her daughter, Iryuna Bivins; and previous reporting that included interviews with Brett Adams; his daughter, Brook-Lynn; and her friend, Taleah Vasquez.