North Carolina high school student charged as an adult for attack on teacher, a year after the same student attached another teacher.
By Eileen Griffin
A high school student from Parkland High School in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, was arrested after assaulting a teacher.
The student, Aquavis Hickman, is 17 years old, but will be charged as an adult in the crime, the New York Post reports. He was indicted on assault and kidnapping charges.
The student can be seen in a video violently attacking an educator in the public high school, Fox 8 reports. The video was not released by the sheriff’s office, but they did describe the scene to the outlet.
The student was viewed walking up the teacher and, “cussing, yelling and slapping her in the face twice.”
The Forsyth County District Attorney, Sheriff, and Winston-Salem Police Chief all agreed that the behavior on display in the video will not be tolerated in Forsyth County, WFMY reports. Anyone attacking educators will face “significant consequences.”
“What I witnessed yesterday—I still see it playing in my head,” Sheriff Bobby Kimbrough said. “When I sat with the teacher today—I am amazed that she even showed up to work today. That took a lot.”
After the student was charged, another teacher at Parkland High reported that he had also been assaulted by the same student, Fox 8 reports.
Larry Edwards was working as a substitute teacher at the time the attack occurred. Edwards had a 40-year teaching career including 13 years at Parkland High prior to his retirement and subsequently becoming a substitute at the same school.
Edwards said that in May of 2023 he was attacked while teaching a biology class. The student was disrupting the class, drawing attention, and eventually he became physical with the teacher.
“I walked up to the desk to get my phone to call the office,” Edwards told the outlet. “He mockingly walked behind me, and I happened to turn around and see him. The students started laughing. The next thing I know, he had taken his hand and smushed my head. Everybody started laughing and he ran out.”
The incident was reported, Edwards said, but nothing came of the complaint.
“I’ve just sort of felt the incident with me … was sort of swept under the rug,” Edwards said.
Forsyth County District Attorney, Jim O’Neil, said, “We have to protect those that are going into our school system and trying to teach and trying to keep control of classrooms because you don’t ever want to see a teacher assaulted.”
Schools across North Carolina are experiencing an increase in student violence, Fox 8 reports. A consolidated data report from 2021-2022 documents the rising incidents of criminal activity in school grounds.
About 60 percent of the 2,726 schools in the state reported some type of crime during the period documented in the report. Six or more crimes were documented for 40 percent of the schools. Those crimes include assault, sex offense, bomb threats and possession of drugs, alcohol or weapons, and others.
Assault on school personnel was the most frequently reported crime. About 38 percent of the cases involved children in pre-K through 5th grade.
In Winston-Salem and Forsyth County, the message is that violence against teachers will not be tolerated. There will be consequences for students who become aggressive in the classroom.
“Our message to our community is simple,” O’Neill said. “We stand with the teachers. We will fight to protect those teachers. And if you lay a hand on a teacher and assault a teacher, you can expect that the punishment will be swift and severe. Promise made. Promise kept.”
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