An upstate New York ninth-grade student who was arrested Wednesday for allegedly slamming a younger student has reportedly suggested race was a factor in the school’s decision to suspend him.
A video that was shared widely on social media appears to show the ninth-grader picking up and hurling a much smaller boy to the ground. The incident occurred Monday at Ada Cosgrove Middle School in Ogden, New York, during dismissal, WHAM reported.
Video recorded outside Cosgrove Middle School in Ogden, N.Y. captured a much larger student picking up a young child and throwing him to the concrete ground. The victim’s family filed a police report on Tuesday morning. The bully has not been charged yet. pic.twitter.com/04WrfVad1h
— Andy Ngô ?️? (@MrAndyNgo) February 14, 2023
On Thursday, Andy Ngo reported in the Post Millennial that the student accused of the assault believes race was a factor in his suspension, citing as evidence an unrelated event involving his brother:
The suspended teen denies that race was a factor in confronting the boy, who is white. But he believes his own punishment by the administration of Spencerport Central School District was racist. He tells TPM he was suspended for the remainder of the academic year—something he believes is racially motivated because he’s black. “Last year my brother got into a fight and a lot of white people jump[ed] him and not one of them got suspended or in trouble.
In addition to being suspended, the student has been arrested and charged with assault in the third degree, Ogden Police Chief Travis Gray confirmed in a media release on Wednesday.
“What I would say to kids is that all their actions have consequences, and they need to think about what the consequences to their actions are,” Gray told WHAM.
Parents and educators, startled by the incident, have spoken out about school violence.
“It’s like, makes your stomach turn,” WHEC quoted a parent named Lisa Watson as saying. “And that could be anybody’s kid.”
“I think the lack of consequences is the real issue,” Watson said, adding that teachers often have to do “more than they should” to address students’ behavioral problems, per WHAM.
Spencerport Schools, Ada Cosgrove Middle School’s district, wrote in a statement it is “committed to building upon [its] security efforts.”
Gray noted in his media release that the ninth-grader has been directed to “appear in family court at a later date.”
You can follow Michael Foster on Twitter at @realmfoster.
