10-year-old boy could face charge after school counselor told police he touched her inappropriately
A 10-year-old Florida boy is facing a potential misdemeanor battery charge after a counselor at Holly Hill School in Volusia County told police that the fourth grader touched her inappropriately while giving her a hug. The student was suspended as a result and his family is disputing the allegation, arguing that it is rooted in racism.
The child, who is black, is not being identified because he's a minor and the counselor, who is white, has also invoked Marsy’s Law, which allows alleged crime victims in Florida to remain anonymous, NBC News reported.
On Oct. 24, according to a police report and a suspension letter provided by attorneys for the boy’s family, the counselor said she was visiting a class to discuss something when the student approached her for a hug. The teacher explained that she “turned sideways to give a side hug,” but the boy placed one arm around her shoulder and with the other hand “reached and grabbed her left breast” the suspension letter said. She then noted that she removed the boy’s hand from her breast and he walked away.
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The counselor said she then called the boy over to discuss the situation and he “began to yell.” The boy then had to be removed from the classroom by school staff and his grandmother was later informed of his suspension by the assistant principal.
Rawsi Williams, an attorney for the boy’s family, said the boy claims it was the counselor who initiated the hug.
“All he did was go up to hug her. It was nothing more than that for him. He then went back to his desk, talked with his other football playmates,” she said.
“The next thing he knew, the teacher calls him up and accuses him of having groped this lady. [The child] denied it, but even with him denying it, they still suspended him. They still called the police on him. The [counselor] still told the police that she wanted to pursue criminal battery charges against this 10-year-old kid.”
While the boy who was suspended from school for 10 days has not yet been formally charged by the police, Frank T. Allen, another family attorney, said the boy’s father and his family believe racism triggered the charge against his son. The charge was likened by the fourth grader’s father to the case of Emmett Till, a black 14-year-old boy who was murdered in 1955 after he was accused of making inappropriate advances toward a white woman.
“It exacerbates the stereotypes of black men and how they react around women and white women," Allen said. "And for her to go and do that and excoriate this child with these baseless accusations, this is going to have a long-term effect on him and how he interacts with people."
The Christian Post reached out to Holly Hill Police for an update on the case on Thursday but no one was immediately available. The boy’s grandfather insisted that they will fight the claim against him.
“My grandson has been accused of something and then punished before the facts,” the grandfather told NBC News. “We will not stand for it.”
