Student who punched teacher in face in viral video, 2 other brawling students shouldn't be 'criminalized': Superintendent



The Georgia high school student who punched a teacher in the face last week — an incident that was captured on a viral cellphone video — as well as two other brawling students seen in the clip should not be "criminalized," the school district superintendent said Tuesday.

DeKalb County School District Superintendent Devon Horton said each of the three students who were charged with battery and disrupting public school has a story and there is “more to it than meets the eye," Decaturish reported.

'This was not as cut and dry as the video showed.'

“I am going to be honest. From what I’ve known as a superintendent regarding the situation, I do not support them being criminalized. I do not," Horton told listeners at a news conference. "Every student deserves an opportunity ... and there are some factors that we are aware of that could have prevented this, and so we're looking into that right now.”

The fight took place last Tuesday at Martin Luther King Jr. High School in Lithonia, which is about 20 minutes southeast of Atlanta.

What happened prior to the on-camera violence isn't clear, but the video begins with a male wearing a dark hoodie running up to a teacher wearing a jacket and tie and punching him in the face. As you might expect, onlookers in the hallway let out an approving holler in unison.

A security guard who's right next to the teacher puts the attacker in a bear hug and attempts to move him away, but the angry teacher hits his attacker with a punch of his own, which the crowd doesn't like one bit.

With that, two other males — one wearing a gray hoodie and the other wearing a white hoodie — go after the teacher and knock him to the floor. By this point, the frenzied students are behaving as if they're watching a UFC match.

The teacher gets up again, and there's a little bit of pushing and shoving, but that's where the 45-second clip ends. You can view it here.

The district said in a statement that several students reportedly initiated the physical fight with the teacher, WXIA-TV reported. The teacher in question is on paid administrative leave, Decaturish said.

Horton said at least one of the students involved in the fight had been at the school for less than a month.

“To be honest, this was not as cut and dry as the video showed,” Horton added during the news conference, according to Decaturish. “There were some things that, as a system, that we could have done better.”

Horton said challenges and stressors that students and teachers face in and out of school combine to create “the perfect storm for an incident like that," the outlet added.

Decaturish said Horton and other officials brought up a number of recently implemented restorative practice programs in the district that they say have resulted in better attendance and graduation rates, as well as fewer disciplinary incidents and suspensions at the high school.

You can view a video here showing school district officials discussing the incident at the news conference.

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Pair of 19-year-old Florida HS students accused of brutally beating up teacher in 'synchronized physical attack'



Two 19-year-old Florida high school students are accused of brutally beating up a teacher in what police called a "synchronized physical attack" that was captured on video.

The Fort Lauderdale Police Department told ABC News that Jayvis L. McClover and Roddrick McQueen approached the teacher at Dillard High School around 2 p.m. March 13 and were "verbally threatening to attack him."

One student told WPLG in the video that the teacher had been 'arguing with students' and that 'he cursed them out and said, "I'm gonna fight you after school."'

Police said McClover and McQueen — who are both enrolled at the school — then "intentionally launched a synchronized physical attack" on the teacher and "repeatedly punched the teacher in the face and head with closed fists," after which the teacher fell to the ground, the news network reported.

Police said the students continued to punch the teacher while he was on the ground "in a fetal position attempting to guard himself against injury," ABC News noted.

School security staff pulled the two students away from the teacher, who suffered "swelling and bruising and reported pain in his back as a result of the attack," the news network said.

McClover and McQueen both were charged with battery on a public or private education employee, police told ABC News.

The Broward County Sheriff's Office on Thursday told Blaze News that McClover was released from jail March 14 on a $15,000 bond while McQueen was released from jail March 16 with no bond but with electronic monitoring. WPLG-TV added that McQueen was placed on house arrest with a GPS monitor.

Both McClover and McQueen were ordered not to return to the high school, ABC News said, citing court records.

You can view a video report here about the incident; it includes cellphone clips of the beatdown and notes that the educator in question is a substitute teacher.

The video also features on-camera interviews with five individuals — apparently students at the school — who either smiled or laughed when describing the altercation. Some of them accused the teacher of "provoking" the two arrested students.

One student told WPLG in the video that the teacher had been "arguing with students" and that "he cursed them out and said, 'I'm gonna fight you after school.'"

The video report added that school officials are reviewing the entire incident as well as "the actions of the teacher."

Daniel Foganholi Sr., a board member with the Florida Department of Education, said in a statement that the incident was a "failure of respect, discipline and accountability," ABC News reported.

"No educator should fear for their safety while doing their job," Foganholi said, according to the news network. "Schools must be places of learning, not battlegrounds."

He emphasized the need for "stronger disciplinary policies, better security measures and a culture that respects and protects our teachers," ABC News said.

"If we fail to act, we fail our educators, our students, and our future," Foganholi also said, according to the news network. "Enough is enough."

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4 females caught on viral video brawling — reportedly over parking space — at Florida beach; 2 arrested



Four females were caught on a viral video brawling — reportedly over a parking space — at a Florida beach, and two of them have been arrested.

According to WEAR-TV, the fight at Pensacola Beach occurred over the weekend.

'Hahaha that’s not how parking lots work, sweetheart.'

The station said a Facebook video of the melee attracted over 7 million views as of Wednesday morning. You can view an apparently different video of the fight here.

It all went down at the Mommy Beach parking lot on Pensacola Beach Boulevard, WEAR reported.

The misdemeanor arrestees are:

  • Victoria Posey, 18, of Pensacola. She was booked around 5 p.m. Sunday on a battery charge and released from Escambia County Jail at 7:45 p.m. the same day on a $1,000 bond, jail records state.
  • Allanaha Hills, 20, of Pensacola. She was booked at 8:55 p.m. Tuesday on a battery charge and released just 10 minutes later from Escambia County Jail on a $2,500 bond, jail records state. WEAR added that Hills turned herself in.

The sheriff's office said it all started when Posey was holding a parking spot by standing in it., the station reported.

Deputies noted that a verbal argument between Posey and another female soon turned physical when Posey began hitting the female, WEAR said.

"It started over a parking spot," sheriff's Lt. James Barnes told the station. "The lady arrived to park, but [Posey] was standing in the spot holding it. So when she gets out to say, 'Hey, I'm trying to park here,' an argument started — and then they started fighting over the parking spot."

A female in a pink outfit — Posey — punches a female numerous times and pulls her hair while the victim is on the ground, WEAR said.

A female in a blue outfit — Hills — hits another female who approaches and hits Posey as Posey is punching the first victim, the station said.

No further details have been released, WEAR reported.

You can view WEAR's video report about the dust-up here.

How are people reacting?

As you might imagine, a number of comments underneath the news station's video weren't terribly complimentary — such as:

  • "Hahaha that’s not how parking lots work, sweetheart."
  • "This is why I don’t go to beach anymore. Invasion of rude people."
  • "First nice day of the season...imagine that!"

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HS basketball player caught on video punching 2 opposing players to the floor during game



A Georgia high school basketball player was caught on video punching a pair of opposing players to the floor during game earlier this month — and the puncher faces battery charges as a result.

TMZ Sports said the violence commenced around 6 p.m. Jan. 3 during a contest at Sonoraville High School in Calhoun, which was taking on the team from visiting Rockmart High School.

TMZ Sports said it obtained an incident report from the Gordon County Sheriff's Office indicating that the Rockmart player — a 16-year-old — got physical because his opponent 'kept calling him the N-word and he lost his temper.'

Cellphone video shows a Rockmart player shove a Sonoraville player to the hardwood. But when the shoved player rises to his feet and turns around to face his adversary, the Rockmart player punches the Sonoraville player in the face, sending him back to the floor and flat on his back.

With that, another Sonoraville player who was sitting on the bench sprints at the Rockmart player who threw the punch — and the Rockmart player puts him on the floor as well with a fast punch to the head.

A near-melee breaks out, with the Rockmart player backing up, bouncing on his feet and rotating his fists like a boxer — but it appears that adults get between him and the Sonoraville players, and the Rockmart player is led away.

While the second Sonoraville player got up right away after the right to his head, the first punched Sonoraville player was still lying on the floor and being helped by numerous adults as the clip ended.

You can view video here of the shove, punches, and aftermath.

TMZ Sports said it obtained an incident report from the Gordon County Sheriff's Office indicating that the Rockmart player — a 16-year-old — got physical because his opponent "kept calling him the N-word and he lost his temper."

The outlet noted that the incident report doesn't indicate whether the Sonoraville player admitted to using racist language.

The Rockmart player who got violent was facing two charges of simple battery, TMZ Sports said, citing police documents.

The outlet added that it reached out to Sonoraville High School for comment but had not yet heard back and that Rockmart hadn't yet publicly addressed the incident.

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