Student knocked out in AL school brawl involving parent, police
ATHENS, AL April 13 2019 Chaos broke out at an Alabama high school, which resulted in the arrests of two students and a parent, as well as differing stories on how it got so far.
One student was knocked unconscious in the fight, while others were soon placed in handcuffs and set to face a list of charges. A parent also was jailed after the scene inside the school.
Athens City Schools Superintendent Trey Holladay says a classroom disruption sent five students to the principal’s office Tuesday. He suspended them for 20 days.
“My daughter is an ‘A’ student, never in any trouble,” said one unnamed parent. “In 12 years of school she has never been in trouble.”
Parents demanded a meeting in response to the suspensions.
“I had all the confidence in the world that our parents would come in and do what they were supposed to do. And they did, but one,” Holladay said.
Parent Amanda Loggins, soon after getting released from jail, responded to the superintendent’s claim she snuck into the school, essentially trespassing. She says she had an appointment that day to meet with a school official.
“This mother came in past our secure lock system and started yelling and screaming in the hallways for them to start rioting,” Holladay said.
Loggins says the officers asked everyone to go back to class after the meeting. She says she only got involved after seeing officers get aggressive with a student.
“I went out there and told him he was being too rough and to stop doing that,” she said. “And the police are like ‘Oh? You’re trying to start a riot?’ I said, ‘No, I’m not trying to start a riot, but black lives do matter.’ It just went from there.
“He started shoving me on the ground and choking me. My daughter was trying to get him off of me, and I got arrested.”
Another parent who happened to be in the office also witnessed the events.
“He grabbed him and just slammed him against the wall and slammed his head up against the wall,’ said the unnamed woman. “This young man didn’t deserve what he got. I feel for the mom. I feel for the family. They’ll be in my prayers.”
The student knocked unconscious can be seen in the video lying underneath the altercation, finally dragged out by someone.
“I feel really bad, because my kids had to experience some things that they shouldn’t have to at a young age,” Loggins said.
In a statement, Athens police says it will conduct a thorough investigation into what happened at the school. The police chief adds it is also working with school officials to address safety concerns there.
“This is not who we are, and we’re not going to let this define us for the remainder of the school year or this school system,” Holladay said.
WAFF/CNN
