A substitute teacher in North Carolina has been fired after video surfaced showing him body-slamming a 12-year-old student in the classroom.
Paul Stennett, 49, a Western Guilford Middle School substitute teacher, has been terminated after video surfaced showing him body-slamming 12-year-old Jose Escuerdo in his classroom.
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The five-second-long video, which was posted to Facebook by the middle school student’s mother, Heidi Escuerdo, on Valentine’s Day, shows Stennett picking the student up and violently tossing him over his shoulder and to the floor as other students in the room scream out in shock. Escuerdo was left with bruises on his elbow, shoulder, and back, and, according to his mother, received a seven-day suspension.
Speaking to Fox 8, Escuerdo explained that the incident happened after Stennett had taken his Valentine’s Day chocolates away from him earlier in the day and threw them in the sink. Towards the end of the day, the 12-year-old says he went to get them back, but that’s when the incident occurred.
Escuredo claims that as he was putting the chocolates into his backpack, the substitute teacher attempted to grab them from him again. When he failed to retrieve the chocolate, Stennett then grabbed him by his shirt, pinned him against the wall, and then picked him up and threw him over his shoulder to the ground.
Following the encounter, and Heidi Escuerdo’s sharing of the video and call for justice, Guilford County Schools spokeswoman Tina Firesheets said that Paul Stennet was no longer working for the Guilford County Schools district.
“This kind of behavior toward a student is disturbing and unacceptable. We reported the behavior to law enforcement and will no longer employ this person as a substitute teacher or in any other GCS position,” Chief of Staff Nora Carr said.
According to the Daily Mail, who spoke with Greensboro police, charges against Stennett have not been filed at this time. Authorities are still investigating.
