The video, which went viral on social media, shows a girl throwing a laptop computer at a boy, and then the boy shouting a racial slur at the girl, and then retaliating by throwing her down on a desk -- knocking her out.
At a news conference outside Jehue Middle School, where the fight occurred on March 10, community leaders voiced their disgust with the fact that the girl was cited as well, calling the attack on her race-based and an act of hate.
"We call on you to drop that citation on the young lady immediately," said Samuel Casey, a pastor at New Life Christian Church. "It's unacceptable."
But the Colton Police Department said in the moments before the 65-second video clip, the girl used a metal hydro flask to attack the boy, hitting him several times in the head. The police department said she was cited for assault with a deadly weapon for the alleged attack with the hydro flask, as well as throwing the laptop computer at the boy.
The boy was citied for battery -- not for the incident in the video where he pushed the girl down on the table, but for horseplay with a water pistol before the attack.
A friend of the girl, identified as Rosemary Hidalgo, confirmed that's how the incident started.
"Me and her were getting hit with water, and we told him to stop. And then she got mad, and after that she reacted... got her water bottle and started fighting," Hidalgo said.
Another student told Eyewitness News that the girl was the aggressor in the attack; he said the boy was merely defending himself.
"When she started hitting him with the hydro flask... it struck him two or three times I think. Because she swung it at him several times, six or seven I think," he said.
The Rialto Unified School District said a substitute teacher was in the class during the incident. The video did not show the teacher intervening, but the district said decisive action was taken.
"A telephone call was made to safety officers," said spokesperson Syeda Jafri. "So when we said there was a decisive action taken, there was action taken. Everything in between is under investigation."
The incident is still under investigation.