Two Florida school staffers drag 6-year-old like 'rag doll' up staircase and down hallway in shocking video
EUSTIS, FLORIDA: Two school employees — one of them a dean and the other a school guardian — have resigned after they were reportedly seen in a video dragging a kindergarten student. It has also been reported that the school guardian bragged about doing a “Superman Carry” on the six-year-old.
The incident was reportedly captured on a CCTV camera which showed the dean pulling the child by the wrist, dragging up a staircase, and down a hallway at Eustis Heights Elementary School in Eustis, Florida. The footage also showed the kid being dragged by his belt loop by the guardian. According to Marian C Findley, mother of the unnamed student, her son was “slammed in the chair and said one of the guardians had squeezed his neck” when he was inside the dean’s office. However, there is no video to prove it.
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You can watch the video here.
The unidentified guardian allegedly sent a text message to the school principal at Eustis Heights Elementary while bragging about it, an investigative report provided by Lake County Schools stated. The report noted that the staff member of the school mentioned in the message about him performing a “superman carry and it put a really good wedgy” on the boy. The child’s father Kevin Findley told WFTV, “It breaks my heart because as a dad I want to protect him and to know that I couldn’t, that hurts.”
Reports said that the incident took place on March 8 and before that the parents of the kid were receiving calls from the school about his bad behavior. The school authorities called him defiant. “On one day he was throwing rocks and (his teacher) had to call administrators to get him under control,” child services investigators told police, Fox 23 reported. But the Findleys denied it. “We don’t have defiant issues at home with our son. We did meetings over there at the school just to kind of see what’s going on,” Kevin said.
Parents of the child have alleged that their son was mistreated earlier also in the school. “It happened more than one time, let me just be clear. The video they gave us, just four accounts,” Marian stated. But despite their complaints, Eustis police ended the probe saying there was no criminal intent after their consultation with the state attorney’s office. “I don’t know why when clearly there’s video of my son being dragged like a little rag doll,” the mother added.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the district has issued a statement that read, “We take student safety very seriously. When the principal was made aware of the allegations she looked into the situation and notified parents the next day, called DCF as we required to do, and notified our Employee Relations Department. Employee Relations conducted an investigation and recommended termination. Both employees resigned in lieu of termination. Employee Relations reported both individuals to the Florida Department of Education. An additional allegation was made against a separate employee. An investigation into that employee’s alleged involvement is ongoing.”
In another incident, a seven-year-old biracial girl had to be moved to another school after a teacher-student duo cut her hair. As per reports, first a student cut her hair and the second time a staff member did it. “She was crying. She was afraid of getting in trouble for getting her hair cut. I asked what happened and said 'I thought I told you no child should ever cut your hair.’ She said 'but dad, it was the teacher.' The teacher cut her hair to even it out,” Jurnee’s father, Jimmy Hoffmeyer said.