OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. – An Osceola County high school employee is facing a child abuse charge on allegations of slamming a student to the ground after the teen used the N-word in the classroom, deputies said.
Chris Ferguson, a 26-year-old campus monitor at Tohopekaliga High School in Kissimmee, was arrested Monday afternoon after deputies responded to the campus on March 28, an affidavit shows.
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According to the affidavit, Ferguson, who is 6 feet, 6 inches tall and weighs 350 pounds, approached the student shortly before 3 p.m. after he heard him saying the N-word to a classmate and told the student “he could not speak like that.”
Ferguson then asked the student to step out of the room and once class was over, Ferguson overheard the student telling his girlfriend the campus monitor was “in (his) feelings,” the affidavit said.
Deputies said Ferguson then grabbed the student “by the shirt and neck and lifted him up to the ceiling, leaving red marks over his neck and chest area” before slamming him to the ground.
In cell phone video of the incident provided by the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office, the monitor could be seen shoving the student several times after dropping him to the ground.
You can see the full cell phone video, in the media player below. A word of warning, the video contains disturbing images and offensive language.
A female student can then be seen in the video trying to pull the male student away from Ferguson.
“Get the (expletive) away,” she said.
“I ain’t no little n*****, I ain’t no little n*****,” the male student responded to her.
The video cuts out shortly after that.
Officials said the student was taken to the school nurse’s office, but the extent of his injuries has not been disclosed.
The race of the student has not been released.
An Osceola County Public Schools spokesperson said Ferguson had only started working in the district as a campus monitor one week prior to the March 28 incident and resigned on Monday.
The student’s mother was contacted after the incident occurred and chose to press charges against Ferguson, officials said.
Though the child’s race is unknown, parents say they don’t condone the school monitor’s actions, but they understand the sensitivity of the situation.
“It touches on a lot of the racial stuff going on these days,” parent Phillip Long told News 6.
Another parent, Leanne Chriswell, agreed.
“I don’t think at anytime it’s appropriate to put your hands on a child, but I will say we are in a situation where racial tensions are very high,” Chriswell said. “You’ve got to be conscious of what you say.”
Ferguson was arrested on a charge of child abuse without great bodily harm.
Ferguson bonded out after being booked in Osceola County jail.