Source: Thomas Barwick / Getty
Broward County, Florida, teacher Khadijah Tynnettta Muhammad, 54, has been arrested and charged with child abuse after allegedly assaulting a kindergartener in front of a crowd at Margate Elementary School.
Muhammad slammed the kindergartener to the ground after the male student threw a piece of paper at another child Oct. 10, WPLG reported. Margate Police reportedly claimed that the teacher approached the kindergartener while sitting on the hallway floor with other students. After the child threw the piece of paper, the teacher allegedly grabbed and pulled him up by the arms and wrists multiple times before she seemingly took his neck and violently held him to the floor.
The alleged assault reportedly happened in front of students and other Margate Elementary School staff. It was said to have lasted around two minutes.
Police claimed school surveillance footage recorded the alleged child abuse incident.
“She continued to lift him off the ground by his arms, twist his arms and grabbed him by the back of his shirt while shoving him across the hallway,” an officer wrote in Muhammad’s arrest affidavit, according to WPLG. “She ripped the jacket off his back and continuously grabbed the student by his arms, wrists, shirt and jacket until the altercation ended. Towards the end of the video, which was partially blocked from the camera view, she appeared to grab him around his neck and slam him to the ground.”
The school’s security footage hasn’t been publicly shared.
The local news source outlined that the authorities are referring to the incident as an “altercation.” The kindergartener’s involvement in the incident is unknown outside of his throwing paper at another student before the teacher’s alleged assault.
The New York Post specified that the child was not one of Muhammad’s students.
Broward County Public Schools released a statement to WPLG on the assault that didn’t explicitly say Muhammad had been fired over the incident.
“The safety and well-being of students are always our highest priority,” the school district noted in part. “The [Margate Elementary] is working closely with law enforcement regarding this situation, and the teacher involved has been reassigned away from students and the school pending the outcome of the case. We defer to the Margate Police Department for any additional details they can provide regarding their investigation.”
Muhammad is absent from Margate Elementary’s faculty and staff roster on the school district’s website. The Florida educator was reportedly still employed by Broward County Public Schools as of Oct. 20, according to WPLG‘s coverage.
Child abuse is a felony charge in Florida. If Muhammad is found guilty, she faces possible prison time and fines.
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