Jacksonville, Fla. — The Duval County School District said one of its staff had “inappropriate physical contact” with students while trying to break up a brawl.
Action News Jax’s Meghan Moriarty first broke the story back in February. Video footage taken by other students captured the fight.
Alajaah Brown, 17, is the student wearing red, in the video.
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Deborah Cooper said her granddaughter, Alajaah, was hit and slammed to the ground by a Terry Parker High School assistant principal.
”He treated her like a rag doll,” Cooper said.
The district confirmed to Action News Jax on Friday that its employee was in the wrong through a newly released investigative report. The report said that assistant principal, Oscar Harris “engaged in inappropriate physical contact” with a student when he attempted to break up a fight in the Terry Parker High School courtyard.
He grabbed one of the students by the neck. Then, he hit another student, according to the 44-page report.
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The district’s report said the allegations against the assistant principal were “substantiated,” which means there is sufficient and credible evidence to support the allegation.
”It was ridiculous,” Cooper said, “I’m just glad that finally, the incident report has come out, and I have reviewed it and I can see that it was just totally uncalled for.”
The report concludes that Harris “engaged in inappropriate physical contact with students when he attempted to break up a fight.” It goes on to say Harris was hit by a student and “responded by violently pushing the second student in the upper chest area.”
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The report added students were engaging in a “violent physical altercation” when Harris went to break it up. It said Harris believed a student was “kicking and hitting him,” and a staff member witnessed a student spitting on Harris.
Moriarty asked Cooper about her granddaughter’s behavior leading up to the altercation with Harris.
”She didn’t know who was grabbing, you know, who came to grab,” Cooper said. “She just kind of swung around and when she realized it was too late.”
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The investigative report from Duval County Public Schools said that assistant principal Harris is trained annually and should know “this method of restraining a student is prohibited.”
This is not the first time Harris has had disciplinary issues. Moriarty went through his 300+ page personnel file in February. The file contains several past complaints.
Harris was given an opportunity to tell his side of the story during the investigation, but declined to be interviewed.
We’ve reached out to DCPS for clarity on whether Harris is still employed by the district.
At last check, he was “reassigned to duties not involving students.”
The district spokesperson got back to us and said a response would be given by Monday.
We’ll continue to update this developing story.
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