A high school student in North Carolina has been charged with assault after it was purportedly seen on camera slapping a teacher during a foul-mouthed conversation.
The anonymous adolescent was involved in an incident at Parkland High School in Winston-Salem on April 15, according to a Facebook post made by the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office (FCSO). In an online video, the kid is shown standing over a seated teacher and then punching her in the face.
You can hear the teacher asking, “Do you think that affected me in any way?”
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Stepping up and asking the same question again, the student asks, “Want me to hit you again?”
“I don’t want it,” the teacher says, before she is struck again. The hit is so hard that her glasses fly off her face while the teenager continues his profanity-filled rant.
“Ain’t nobody even coming. You got slapped,” the student says. “B—-, go back to teaching.”
Parents received a message from the school’s principal, Noel Keener, informing them that the student would be prosecuted for “inappropriate and unsettling” behaviour in addition to facing disciplinary action. This was reported by local TV station WGHP.
WGHP was informed by Superintendent Tricia McManus that the student’s “behaviour will not be tolerated” and that her priority was to ensure the “teacher is taken care of and has the support needed to navigate through the lasting effects of this incident.” However, neither the superintendent nor a spokesperson for the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools responded to inquiries about what transpired.
In a separate hearing from the legal ones, the superintendent intends to propose expulsion from the school district.
“When those who teach us can be attacked, we should all be incensed,” FCSO Sheriff Bobby F. Kimbrough Jr. stated in a statement issued by his agency. “We are praying for wholeness for those students who witnessed this and the educator involved.”
Two counts of misdemeanour assault and one count of conveying threats are brought against the student. Since he is a minor, the sheriff’s office said no more details will be disclosed.
After watching the now-famous footage of the assault go viral online, former teachers at the school told WFMY-TV that they were not shocked. They also said that when pupils returned to class after COVID-19 closures, behavioural issues at the school worsened.
