'Bullied' South Carolina girl, 10, who collapsed after a classroom fight died from a birth defect not the scuffle, autopsy reveals
- Raniya Wright, 10, got into a fight with another student at her school on March 25
- She and the other student were taken to the principal's office, where Wright complained about pain in her head
- The 10-year-old reportedly grabbed her head and vomited before losing consciousness and dying two days later
- A prosecutor previously ruled Wright died from natural causes
- She had arteriovenous malformation (AVM), an abnormal tangle of blood vessels that can disrupt normal blood flow
- Autopsy results released Thursday support the prosecutor's previous ruling
Raniya Wright, 10, died on March 27 two days after getting into a fight with another student at her South Carolina elementary school
Autopsy results released Thursday support a prosecutor's earlier assertion that natural causes stemming from a birth defect killed a 10-year-old South Carolina girl who collapsed shortly after a fight at school.
The seven-page autopsy report says fifth-grader Raniya Wright died after a tangle of malformed blood vessels ruptured in her brain.
Raniya passed away on March 27, two days after she complained of a headache and collapsed following a fight with another girl in her class at Forest Hills Elementary School in Walterboro, South Carolina.
The autopsy found 'no traumatic injuries' to the girl's body.
'The manner of death is best deemed natural,' concluded the report dated April 22. It was released to reporters Thursday by the office of Solicitor Duffie Stone.
The autopsy backs up preliminary findings Stone cited during a news conference last month, when he announced that no charges would be filed in Raniya's death.
He told reporters: 'In this case, the science is clear.'
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Wright's mother, Ashley Wright, (pictured center last month) told reporters she'd complained about her daughter being bullied at school multiple times before the fight that preceded her daughter's death
Ashley Wright posted this Facebook status some time after her daughter's death on March 27
Mourners laid balloons, flowers and stuffed animals outside Forest Hills Elementary school in Waltersboro, South Carolina after 10-year-old Wright passed away
The girl's family has said the case deserves further investigation.
Her mother, Ashley Wright, told reporters she previously told school officials her daughter was being bullied multiple times before the fight that preceded the child's death.
Margie Pizzaro, an attorney for the Wright family, said Thursday she had not seen the autopsy report and could not comment on its findings.
Colleton County Sheriff R.A. Strickland has described the fight at Forest Hills Elementary School as a 'five-second slap fight' in Raniya's classroom that was quickly broken up by a teacher.
A horse-drawn caisson arrives outside Saints Center Ministries in Walterboro, S.C., on April 3 for a celebration of the life 10-year-old Raniya Wright
A picture of Ashley Wright (left) and her late daughter that was posted on the family's GoFundMe page
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But the accounts of several students who witnessed the fight, contained in the sheriff's investigative report, say another girl held Raniya in a chokehold, punched her in the head and caused her to fall and strike her head on a shelf or cabinet.
Some students also said it was Raniya who started the fight.
The girl's medical records showed she had been to the doctor seven times in the past two years because of headaches.
Ashley Wright, has said she wasn't aware of her daughter having any birth defects or conditions that led to a blood vessel rupture until after Raniya was hospitalized right before her death.
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