A 17-year-old student at Matanzas High School in Palm Coast, Florida was arrested Tuesday after he shoved a teacher’s aide so hard she flew in the air several feet.
As the teacher’s assistant lay unconscious and defenseless on the floor, the student then pounded her head into the floor.
He attacked her because she took his Nintendo Switch away from him during class, according to police. He later spat on the victim and said when he comes back he would kill her, police said.
Video from the incident provided by the sheriff shows the student, who is not being identified because he is a minor, rushing toward the worker and pushing her to the ground. She goes limp, and the arrest report said she appeared to lose consciousness.
The 17-year-old student was charged with felony aggravated battery with bodily harm; he was taken to the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility and later turned over to the Department of Juvenile Justice.
Flagler County School District Spokesman Jason Wheeler wrote in an email on Friday, February 24, that out of respect for their employees, the district does not provide updates on medical conditions.
However, a mental health advocate has launched a furious defense for the student who is approximately 6 feet and 6 inches tall and weighs 270 pounds.
Sue Urban – whose 17-year-old son Nicholas graduated from Matanzas High School before taking his own life – has reacted to the video.
‘This is not this child’s fault. He is not a threat,’ Urban said in an emotionally Facebook Live.
‘This is a mental health issue. This is a problem with our system, it is broken.
‘That post needs to be removed from the Flagler County Sheriff’s website immediately.’
‘This is not just a thug,’ she told DailyMail.
‘People need to be educated on children that have ESE [Exceptional Student Education]. They should also be educated on impulsive aggression behavior, and that most times these children do not understand the consequences of the behavior.’
Urban, who became a mental health advocate after her son’s death, continued: ‘That child has mental health issues. He is just that, a child.’
Being as I myself (13 at the time) was expelled from all Michigan schools for 5yrs due to me beating a teacher within an inch of his life because he choked my little brother (10) which was one of his special needs students. I feel no sympathy for this spoiled rotten child who lashed out because he doesnt get his ass whooped at home. He obviously has no respect for authority and should get locked up. What I did was completely on the other side of what this limp wrist mammas boy did to this lady. The sytem failed my brother so i took action. The systm was broken then. In this case, he got contraband taken from him and so he threw a fit. He doesnt have mental issues either. He has what is a direct outcome of not being able to take proper disciplinary action at home or school. All because “we have to protect the children” Oh yeah? Now whos going to protect us from the children? They dont know the repercussions of their actions because we as parents, teachers, gaurdians ect aren’t able to show them. Even when they do things like this!!!