The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner revealed the cause and manner of death Tuesday for 12-year-old Khimberly Zavaleta, whose family said she died after a bullying incident at Reseda High School earlier this year.
The medical examiner ruled the girl died of natural causes, listing “spontaneously ruptured cerebellar arteriovenous malformation” as the cause and the manner as natural.
“Arteriovenous malformations (AVM) are an assembly of fragile, tangled, high-pressure blood vessels that are prone to spontaneously rupturing, especially when located in the region of the brain as discovered in Khimberly,” Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Odey Ukpo said in a statement. “Catastrophic bleeding due to a rupture develops quickly – within seconds to minutes – and is immediately life-threatening. Unfortunately, as in Khimberly’s case, spontaneous rupture is a common initial presentation of an AVM.”
According to her family, Khimberly, who attended middle school on the same campus as Reseda High School, died in the hospital after being hit in the head with a metal water bottle during a fight on campus in February.
Her family filed a lawsuit against the Los Angeles Unified School District, alleging the district failed to protect the girl from bullying. Last month, the Los Angeles Police Department arrested a juvenile on suspicion of murder in connection with the girl’s death.
An attorney not connected to the case said the ME’s decision could hurt the family’s lawsuit against the school district.
“For the coroner to say that the water bottle was not the reason of her death, then it really does weaken the civil and the criminal case,” Jose Jordan told NBC Los Angeles.
In response to the ME’s ruling, the Zavaleta family’s attorneys on Wednesday said “the medical examiner’s conclusion ignores the undeniable reality of what happened to Khimberly.”
“Before this incident, Khimberly was a healthy, vibrant 12-year-old girl with no symptoms, no medical crisis, and no indication that her AVM posed any danger to her life,” the attorneys’ statement said, adding, “Khimberly was alive before this happened. She is gone now. Plain and simple. We will continue fighting for accountability for Khimberly and her family.”
NBCLA reached out to the LAPD to ask how the decision about the cause of Khimberly’s death will affect the case against the juvenile who was arrested. The police department said the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office is now reviewing the case.
The school district said its thoughts are with Khimberly’s friends and family, as well as the entire community in Reseda.