A Georgia middle school teacher and football coach can be seen lifting a sixth grader up by his shirt and throwing him across the classroom in a viral video that has unsettled viewers.
BeTreylin Elder, a teacher at DeRenne Middle School in Savannah, Georgia, can be seen grabbing 11-year-old TJ Russell by his shirt and flinging him over a row of desks in a viral video that follows a confrontation between the two.
TJ's mother, Che'nelle Russell, called the school after being sent the video last Friday. She stated that Elder allegedly made inappropriate comments directed towards her in front of her son, who then stood up to defend her.
Elder had reportedly said in front of the entire class that he "left his shoes at TJ's mom's house."
"So my son then went to the front of the classroom to approach the teacher, letting him know, 'Hey, stop talking about my mom,'" Russell told WTOC in an interview. "The teacher then came closer to my son. My son again said, 'Stop talking about my mom', and also wanted to call me."
"From that point, he was then grabbed and thrown to the floor like nothing," she continued.
In the video, Elder and TJ can be seen embroiled in a confrontation, after which Elder grabs TJ by his shirt collar and throws him into a row of desks. Elder then walks over to TJ and picks him up, with witnesses reporting that TJ was then shoved out of the classroom by Elder. The entire incident was witnessed by the school's assistant principal.
According to his mother, TJ is now frightened to return to school after suffering a concussion and other injuries from the incident.
"(Elder) needs to be placed in jail," said Che'nelle. "He hurt my boy. I'm heartbroken because I wouldn't do that to my child. His father wouldn't do that to him. So for him to take the initiative to do that is sickening."
"On December 6, 2024, an incident involving a teacher and student at DeRenne Middle School was reported to district personnel," said The Savannah Chatham County Public School System in a statement. "Following the report, thorough statements were collected, and the teacher was immediately reassigned to an alternate location to ensure they had no interaction with students. Over the weekend, the teacher submitted their resignation, which was received and accepted by SCCPSS Human Resources."
"Please be assured that this was an isolated incident and we take matters like this extremely seriously," the statement continued.
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