Appalling moment student slaps woman teacher twice across the face while hurling profanities including ‘b****’ and ‘n*****’ at high school in North Carolina
Teachers at a school have reacted with horror to a video of their middle-aged female colleague being repeatedly punched in the face and abused by a male student.
The teen was arrested after a classmate filmed the profanity-laden physical attack at Parkland High School in North Salem, North Carolina.
The teacher sits motionless in the classroom as the student delivers a right-handed slap to her cheek before stepping back and asking, “Do you want me to hit you again?”
“I don’t want it,” she replies before he repeats his demand and slaps her again, this time with his left hand.
District Attorney Jim O’Neill said he did not have the authority to prosecute the criminal as an adult for his attack on the teacher, who has amazed investigators with her resilience.
“I can still see it playing in my head,” Forsyth County Sheriff Bobby Kimbrough said. “I’m surprised she even showed up for work today.”
Phones are turned off at Parkland High School in North Carolina as student attacks his teacher in class, towers over her and throws a series of punches
The middle-aged teacher sits impassively as the student punches her in the face again, causing her glasses to fly off her face
A secure custody order was issued Tuesday for the boy on one count of communicating threats and two counts of assault.
District Attorney Jim O’Neill said he cannot be charged as an adult because the charge only amounts to a misdemeanor and therefore cannot be tried in higher court.
But he warned students that they will face the same consequences for attacking teachers as they would for attacking police officers.
“We are here to make sure you are never attacked when you go to work,” he said at a news conference.
“We want to remind people that if you put your hands on a teacher, it’s the same as if you put your hands on one of these officers.
“The DA’s office will place the weight of this office on your shoulders, so you should fear the consequences.”
Neither the student nor the teacher have been named, but more than a million people saw footage of the attack after it was uploaded by the student’s classmate, despite the school’s attempt to prevent it from being shared.
It is not known if the full extent of the attack was captured in the video that begins with the student’s first punch.
In the background you can hear fellow students giggling as the student strides back to his seat, taunting his victim: “Nobody’s coming,” he boasts
The North Salem school wrote to parents about the “disturbing interaction” and asked them not to share the video footage
The well-built student repeatedly curses and insults the teacher as he towers over the middle-aged woman sitting in the corner of her classroom.
The second blow causes her glasses to fly off her head and she sweeps the hair from her face as the attacker glares at her.
“I told you I’m not fucking playing with you,” he shouts.
“Do you think that influenced me somehow?” she asks resignedly as he walks to the back of the classroom.
Another student is heard giggling as he taunts her. “Nobody’s coming,” he boasts. “You just got hit. Go back to teaching.”
Tripp Jeffers, a former colleague of the Parkland educator, described her as a “great teacher.”
‘This is shocking to the core. No educator should be treated this way.”
But the school district recorded 46 incidents of students assaulting school staff last school year.
‘I wasn’t afraid of the students. I never felt threatened by them in any way, and I really enjoyed my time teaching there,” said Kisha Wall-Freeman, who taught there from 2012 to 2019.
Forsyth County Sheriff Bobby Kimbrough paid tribute to the teacher’s courage, noting, “I’m amazed she even showed up for work today.”
District Superintendent Tricia McManus said she would recommend the student’s expulsion, but District Attorney Jim O’Neill said he could not be tried as an adult.
But she said the deteriorating behavior had been exacerbated by milder discipline.
“They also hear their parents’ swearing and bad language,” she told WFMY.
‘I’ve seen it get worse and worse, even just walking around the shops or shopping centres. I hear it, I see it, and it was like that less than ten years ago.”
School principal Noel Keener told parents that students will face “disciplinary action” for what she described as an “inappropriate and disturbing interaction.”
“We are working with district staff to address this immediately and ensure that such behavior will not be tolerated at our school and district,” she wrote in a letter.
“If you see a disturbing message or text on social media, please remember to report it and not repost or reshare.”
District Superintendent Tricia McManus said she would recommend the student’s expulsion when the attack is discussed by the school board.
“My focus now is on ensuring that our teacher is well cared for and receives the support necessary to deal with the lasting effects of this incident,” she added.
But Jenny Easter of the Forsyth County Association of Educators described the response to the attack as a “mockery.”
“The lack of respect toward teachers is, to be honest, one of the many reasons why we are seeing a major exodus of teachers in the state,” she added.