Jamir Strane, a Black student at Marion C. Moore high school in Louisville, Kentucky, got into a physical altercation with William Bennett, his chemistry teacher, after he allegedly told the teen that he would be just another “Black boy that got shot” and used the N-word.
Related Story: Georgia Elementary School Janitor Of 23 Years Earns Teaching Degree
Video footage showed Strane punching Bennett in the head while the teacher pinned Strane to the floor, face-up on his back.
The recording also showed Bennett swinging a knee toward Strane’s face as he yanked him by his hair while multiple bystanders, including other students, try to peel Bennett off of Strane.
The 16-year-old student said the fight began when Bennett reprimanded him for using a bandana as a mask.
“He thinks I was a delinquent. He thought I was out here in the streets,” Jamir said according to the Courier-Journal.
Strane alleged that Bennett kept making racially derogatory comments toward him.
“He said, ‘You’re just going to be another Black boy shot,’” the teen said as he explained the sequence of events that lead to the fight. “I’m going to put it in English. He said that you’re just going to end up in the streets dead, in my mind, like all my friends.”
“And that hurt my soul,” he added, saying that it triggered his PTSD after Strane had reportedly been shot in a drive-by shooting last year.
“I look at that as getting revenge because you didn’t have no reason to keep pulling my hair,” Strane, who eventually broke free and walked away, told WDRB. “Even as a student is trying to pull you off of me, and you’re still fighting me.”
Erica Strane, the young man’s mom, said she fully understands why her son reacted in the way he did after all he’d been through.
“To be told that you’re just another boy that’s going to be shot dead, I could see where that could trigger his PTSD,” she said. “Like I said, my son — he’s not a saint. He has his flaws. But, again, I can understand where the PTSD was triggered.”
The boy was suspended from school for a minimum of 10 days and has been charged with assault.
The teen’s family is seeking help from a lawyer to appeal the charge.
“I got social anxiety from all the stuff I’ve been through over the last two years,” Strane said. “It’s eat or be eaten out here.”
His family also created a GoFundMe account to help secure funds for a lawyer.
“My son has been attacked by his teacher. We are starting a go fund me page for any lawyer fees that might be incurred and Expenses we may have,” Erica wrote on the page. “I will be off of work for as long as it takes to get justice for my son. I’m dedicating 100% of my time to my son. Every little bit helps. Please keep us in your prayers.”
Jefferson County Public Schools spokesperson Renee Murphy said Bennett had been moved to non-instructional duties in the district’s materials production department.
