A girl died after being hit on the head at school. Death is ruled by nature

A review from the LA County medical examiner raises new questions about the sudden death of 12-year-old Khimberly Zavaleta Chuquipa.

Kimberly was seemingly healthy at Reseda Charter High when she was hit in the head with a metal bottle during a fight with school bullies on February 17, according to her family. Days later, he was rushed to the hospital for emergency brain surgery, put into a medically induced coma and died.

In April, the Los Angeles Police Department arrested a juvenile suspect on suspicion of murder in connection with Kimberly’s death. Khimberly’s family filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Unified School District court, alleging that their daughter was repeatedly abused at school and that staff failed to take the abuse reports seriously.

However, on Tuesday the LA County medical examiner ruled that Kimberly’s death was not a homicide but natural causes. The medical examiner cited “spontaneous rupture” of blood vessels in the brain caused by an underlying medical condition.

Khimberly had cerebral arteriovenous malformation, according to the ME. This is a rare condition present at birth where the arteries in the brain are tightly packed together, putting her at high risk of rupture.

“Arteriovenous malformations (AVM) are weak, twisted, high-pressure blood vessels that tend to rupture spontaneously, especially if they are located in the brain region as found in Khimberly,” said Dr. Odey Ukpo, the chief medical examiner, in a statement. “Catastrophic bleeding from a rupture occurs quickly — within seconds to minutes — and is immediately life-threatening.”

The news release notes that Khimberly was reportedly hit in the head four days before being hospitalized, but there is no connection between that incident and the subsequent brain arrest.

Robert Glassman, the family’s attorney, said the medical examiner’s determination “ignores the undeniable truth” of what happened to Kimberly.

“Prior to this incident, Khimberly was a healthy 12-year-old girl with no symptoms, no health problems, and no indication that her AVM posed any risk to her health,” said Glassman, a partner with Panish Shea Ravipudi LLP. “Then he was hit on the head with an aluminum water bottle, he was complaining of a terrible headache, and a few days later he had a brain hemorrhage that killed him.”

Glassman said the medical examiner’s review does not affect the civil case, which is about the district’s failure to protect a child in distress.

He said: “If Khimberly had an underlying condition that put her at greater risk of harm, that does not excuse the behavior that led to her death.”

A spokesperson for the Los Angeles Unified School District would not comment directly on the medical examiner’s review Tuesday, but said the district is deeply saddened by Khimberly’s death and that “our thoughts and sympathies go out to the student’s family, friends and the entire school community.” The district does not comment on litigation, a spokeswoman said.

A spokesperson for the Los Angeles Police Department said there were no updates on the investigation into Kimberly’s death.

There was a similar controversy in 2024, when 16-year-old LAUSD student Shaylee Mejia suffered a fatal brain hemorrhage after days of fighting at school.

His mother believes the death was the result of bullying at Manual Arts High School in South LA and blamed school administrators for failing to respond to earlier reports of abuse at the facility.

Video footage of the fight from March 5, 2024, showed Shaylee hitting her head on the bathroom stall. However, the final autopsy report determined that there was no connection between the fight and the subsequent brain arrest, citing instead the injuries that Shaylee received after falling down some stairs after the fight.

The cause of Shaylee’s death was ruled an accident, and the Los Angeles Police Department dropped its investigation into the incident.