Georgia teacher quits after saying 'lean into it until death' under photo of man kneeling on 2-year-old's neck
DEKALB COUNTY, GEORGIA: A DeKalb County School District special education teacher resigned after he made disparaging comments on a social media post, lending his support to a man kneeling on a child's neck that was reminiscent of George Floyd's murder.
Brian Papin, a Cedar Grove High School teacher, is being investigated after his comments posted underneath the photo were reported to the district's administrators, according to a spokeswoman who spoke to the Daily Mail on Friday, July 24. "Again! Your (sic) doing it wrong!" Papin wrote on the social media post with the image. "One knee on center of the back one on the neck and lean into it until death! You saw the video!" he added, in reference to footage taken by a bystander when Floyd died.
The photo, captioned, "BLM now mf," showed the child pinned to the ground by two persons; one having a knee on the child’s neck and another person holding the toddler's hands behind his back. "Get it right or stop f****** around!" Papin also remarked in the post.
"DeKalb County School District (DCSD) administrators were made aware of the disturbing social media posts on July 22, 2020," the spokeswoman said. "The teacher has resigned and is no longer employed with DCSD. There is no place for racism and abuse in our school district."
We reported earlier that the Ohio man seen kneeling on the neck of a 2-year-old child was arrested, authorities revealed on Thursday. The man Isaiah Jackson, 20, was booked into jail on a probation violation after the Clark County Sheriff's Office launched an investigation into the picture. Authorities were able to find where the incident had taken place and made contact with Jackson, the child, and the child's mother.
The 20-year-old was later taken into custody after investigators found that he had a parole authority hold from the State's Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, authorities said. As reported by NY Post, the child was taken to hospital but had not suffered from any injuries. The authorities also shared that the child's mother was not aware of the incident until an investigation had started.
"Detectives continue to investigate, and are continuing to compile evidence related to several other persons who were directly involved," the deputies said in the released sheriff's office statement. "The Investigations Bureau of the Clark County Sheriff's Office has prepared the case against the male subject shown in the photo." Detectives said they are now "awaiting the Office of the County Prosecutor to provide a determination on the scope and breadth of the felony charges that will be supported by that office for presentation in court."
The exact charges that Jackson will face have not yet been specified by the officials. As of Thursday afternoon, Jackson is in custody, jail records have revealed. The Clark County Sheriff's Office revealed that they had handed Jackson's case and picture to the prosecutor's office. He is currently being held without bond and his next court appearance has not been listed.
According to The Sun, the picture and stunt are said to be a part of a 'George Floyd Challenge' which is circulating around social media. People have been mimicking the actions of former Minneapolis cop, Derek Chauvin. Chauvin had knelt on the neck of 46-year-old Floyd for almost nine minutes despite the latter pleading for his life and saying that he could not breathe.