Teen Student Sucker-Punches Teacher Over Confiscated Cellphone [Watch]
KEY POINTS
- A teenager was filmed punching a high school teacher in the face during a dispute over the student's cellphone
- Houston's Lamar High School said it does not condone the behavior of the student
- Cases of assaults against school employees have been rising in the Houston area in recent years
A 15-year-old student in Texas was caught on video punching a high school teacher after his cellphone was confiscated.
Footage of the incident, which occurred at Lamar High School in Houston, has gone viral on Twitter. Neither the student nor the teacher has been publicly identified at this time.
In the 12-second clip, the much-bigger student can be seen standing close to the teacher as he repeatedly asks for his phone.
"Give me my f—king phone, n—a! I told you to give me my phone! Give me my phone!" the teenager could be heard saying in the video.
The teacher responded by calmly telling the 15-year-old boy to sit down.
But instead of doing so, the student stepped back before unloading a right-handed roundhouse punch on the high school employee, causing a bystander to scream in horror out of frame.
Despite the punch, the teacher managed to stay on his feet.
Following the incident, Lamar High School principal Rita Graves sent out letters to families stressing that such behavior will not be tolerated, KHOU 11 reported.
"We do not condone and will not tolerate this type of behavior. It is always our top priority to maintain an environment where our students and staff are safe," the principal wrote.
"Administrators will be looking into the cause of the altercation and continue to evaluate ways to prevent these occurrences in the future," Graves stated.
Administrators will reportedly look into the incident and try to come up with ways to prevent similar incidents moving forward.
The student's father and the teacher declined to comment on the incident, according to KHOU 11.
Texas AFT (American Federation of Teachers) president Zeph Capo called on the Houston Independent School District to properly punish the student.
"By all means, he should not be allowed back on a regular campus," Capo told the news outlet. "This is not something that needs to be tolerated."
Assaults against school employees in the Houston area have reportedly risen in recent years.
At least 520 incidents were reported in the 2021-22 school year, which is more than double any of the five previous years, according to the station.
In February 2022, a physics teacher at Houston's Langham Creek High School was attacked by a group of students from nearby Aragon Middle School after allegedly asking them to stop driving their four-wheelers on the school's athletic fields, Chron.com reported.
The teacher, Michael Schott, was left with a broken arm in the attack, which took place in the campus parking lot as the educator attempted to evade his attackers.
© Copyright IBTimes 2024. All rights reserved.