A Kentucky educator has been removed from the classroom after he was filmed fighting a student in a school hallway.
According to The Courier-Journal, the altercation occurred earlier this month at Marion C. Moore High School in Louisville. Video shows a white teacher, identified as William Bennett, pinning a Black teenager to the ground as other students attempt to separate them. Several moments later, another adult intervenes and tries to pull Bennett away from the teen; however, the chemistry teacher is then seen driving his knee toward the boy’s face before gripping his hair and refusing to let go.
The student involved in the fight claimed the incident stemmed from an argument over his mask, which Bennett allegedly mistook for a bandana.
“He thinks I was a delinquent. He thought I was out here in the streets,” the 16-year-old said in a video posted on Facebook.
The student admitted to calling Bennett the n-word, which prompted the teacher to accuse the teen of being racist. They then exchanged a few more words, before Bennett allegedly said that he’d “be another black boy shot.”
“And that hurt my soul,” the teen said, noting he had been wounded in a drive-by shooting in 2020.
According to WAVE3, the student was ultimately suspended for 10 days and charged with assault.
Video of the fight surfaced on social media Monday morning, sparking outrage among the student body, parents, and other community members who are now calling for Bennett’s termination. On Tuesday, students conducted a walk-out demonstration urging the Jefferson County Public Schools officials to take action against Bennett.
“We are not standing for [any] type of racism. We are not standing for [any] type of bigotry,” activist Bradley Temple told WLKY during the protest. “We are not standing for [anything] but what’s right at this point in justice.”
County school officials confirmed Bennett has been “reassigned” as they continue to investigate the matter.
