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posted by martyb on Friday October 21 2016, @12:11AM   Printer-friendly
from the professional-educators dept.

The Epoch Times reports

The family of [13-year-old Columbus, Georgia] student Montravious Thomas claim that behavioral specialist, Bryant Mosley, physically attacked the young student on his first day at AIM/Edgewood Student Services Center on Sept. 12.

[The family's attorney] Renee Tucker, [said that the boy], who was the only student in the classroom, wanted to leave the classroom to call his mother from the main office to pick him up. As Thomas tried to leave the classroom, Mosley slammed him to the floor. When he tried to leave again, he was slammed to the floor again. It's not clear how [many] times this occurred.

Tucker said that assistant principal Eddie Powell reportedly witnessed the incident and a school resources officer observed Thomas limping after the alleged attack.

Thomas was allegedly told that school officials would call an ambulance, but changed their minds. Once classes were dismissed, Mosley carried an injured Thomas to an idle school bus without notifying his family of the events that had transpired.

[...] Since the alleged incident, Thomas has undergone four surgeries. Doctors at Egleston Children's Hospital informed the family on Oct. 16 that [Thomas'] nerve damage was so severe, his right leg would have to be amputated.

U.S. Uncut further reports

The boy's mother was forced to be absent from [work] while [caring] for son and ultimately lost [her job].

Inside sources have reported that the school is in possession of a videotape of the confrontation and the boy's attorney has submitted an open records request to gain possession of the footage in addition to 50 documents related to the incident. They plan to sue the school for $5 million.

[..] Mosley works for Mentoring and Behavioral Services, which claims to conduct "holistic behavior approaches" to student discipline. Mosley is no longer working with the school district, though it has not been confirmed at this time whether this was a result of his confrontation with the student.

[Continues...]

Further details from The Washington Post :

A 13-year-old student in Georgia was badly injured after a behavioral specialist slammed him to the ground multiple times while at school last month, the boy's attorney [ Renee Tucker] said.

Montravious Thomas's injuries — which included a fractured tibia, a dislocated knee and permanent nerve damage — were so severe that his right leg had to be amputated on Tuesday.

[...] Tucker said there were at least three other school employees who saw the incident, but no one took the boy to the hospital after he yelled in pain and said his right leg was numb. Instead, [behavioral specialist Bryant] Mosley carried Montravious to the school bus, and he was driven home.

His mother took him to the hospital, where they arrived around 3:30 p.m. — about 90 minutes after the incident was alleged to have happened.

"The leg was never stabilized until he got to the hospital," Tucker said.

The boy was airlifted to a hospital in Atlanta that night for further examination. Over the next month, Montravious went through four surgeries to save his right leg, Tucker said. It was amputated Tuesday night, and he will soon have to go through physical therapy.


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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Marand on Friday October 21 2016, @06:52AM

    by Marand (1081) on Friday October 21 2016, @06:52AM (#417136) Journal

    Do you believe . . . I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume (perhaps wrongly) that you find this sort of treatment to be horrific

    My opinion of the news is basically just "wow, that sucks and sounds excessive even against another adult. I wonder what the full story there is, but we'll probably never know since there's no other witness." That doesn't make for a particularly interesting line of discussion, so I chose to remark on something tangentially related instead. I thought I'd made that clear in the previous comment.

    Specifically, I was talking about how you opened with this:

    It makes me sad to see so many people assuming that a child is at fault under the care of supposed professionals. Regardless of the circumstance, a 13-year old is a child . . .

    I see this sort of thing whenever people talk about kids, like there's no way a kid could do something terrible, so obviously whatever the topic of discussion is, it can't be the kid's fault. People just tend to not want to admit kids can do shitty things, and I find the mental gymnastics involved with it interesting, so I was talking about that rather than the news itself. Especially considering that in the past, someone that age was considered an adult (or nearly one), so this "it's a kid that can do no wrong" attitude for that age group is relatively recent.

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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by NotSanguine on Friday October 21 2016, @07:38AM

    by NotSanguine (285) <NotSanguineNO@SPAMSoylentNews.Org> on Friday October 21 2016, @07:38AM (#417151) Homepage Journal

    I see this sort of thing whenever people talk about kids, like there's no way a kid could do something terrible, so obviously whatever the topic of discussion is, it can't be the kid's fault. People just tend to not want to admit kids can do shitty things, and I find the mental gymnastics involved with it interesting, so I was talking about that rather than the news itself. Especially considering that in the past, someone that age was considered an adult (or nearly one), so this "it's a kid that can do no wrong" attitude for that age group is relatively recent.

    I was 13 once. No, really. It actually happened.

    And I was huge fucking asshole, too. I did lots of things that were stupid, nasty, destructive (self and otherwise) and violent/illegal/criminal, so I know from personal experience the kinds of "shitty things" that kids can do.

    I can assure you that I was certainly not just patted on the head with adults saying "he's just a kid, he can't do wrong."

    And by the way, there have always been parents and others who have the "my kid can do no wrong" attitude. It's common enough that we even have a term for those people: bad parents. They've always existed and they always will.

    The trauma, despair and anguish I endured as a young boy pushed me to act out as I got older. The details aren't relevant. However, a caring community, loving parents and a lot of help, enabled me to get past that and become a reasonably happy young man.

    If people had just thrown up their hands and said "he's just bad! Beat him down, then lock him up!" Our society would have lost out on the thirty-plus years of productive activity and positive impact I've had on my community and society at-large.

    There is a middle ground. Good parents and healthy communities find it. We need more of both.

    Yes, in the past that was true. And back then people considered women to be chattel, disease to be caused by "evil spirits" and were just fine with owning other human beings. Do you believe that stuff to be true, good or appropriate too?

    What's more, in this newfangled era, most kids that age don't need to work on the farm or in the factory so their family can eat. Also, we know now that kids aren't just "short guys who can't drink." They are physiologically and psychologically still developing and lack the same levels of knowledge, life experience, impulse control and (in most cases) communication skills as do adults.

    While that certainly doesn't mean we should ignore it when "mommy's little angel" acts like a complete fucktard, we should also understand that kids aren't adults and cut them some slack. That's not to say we shouldn't do our best to teach them to treat themselves and others with respect and take corrective action, as parents, and when necessary, as a community/society when they don't.

    --
    No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
    • (Score: 2) by Marand on Friday October 21 2016, @08:36AM

      by Marand (1081) on Friday October 21 2016, @08:36AM (#417162) Journal

      Okay, the direction you keep going with your responses seems to indicate you think I'm either in or supportive of the "fuck that kid, he's obviously bad, ZERO TOLERANCE, MOTHERFUCKERS!" camp and it's starting to get annoying. Like I said in another reply here, the zero tolerance shit sucks for anyone subjected to it, and I think we need less of that for kids AND adults.

      Just because I'm not sitting here going "aw that poor little kid :( burn the motherfucker that did this" doesn't mean I agree with what happened, it just means I preferred to remark on how people tend to assume kids do no wrong. We're quick to jump to conclusions when these sort of "my word against yours" stories happen instead of wondering what isn't being said, especially when one of the people involved is a kid or a woman. If the same story had come up, but about two grown men instead, the general reaction would be more critical and I find it interesting that it happens. People tend to have blind spots about certain topics, and kids are often one.

      And back then people considered women to be chattel, disease to be caused by "evil spirits" and were just fine with owning other human beings. Do you believe that stuff to be true, good or appropriate too?

      What the hell? How is that even relevant to what I said? I didn't claim that assuming 13+ was adulthood was correct like you're attempting to imply here. I mentioned that it's interesting to think about the shift in perception, and now you're what, trying to insinuate that I'm cool with slavery and treating women like shit? Trying to disprove something I didn't actually claim? Either way, that's bullshit.

      • (Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Friday October 21 2016, @10:02AM

        by NotSanguine (285) <NotSanguineNO@SPAMSoylentNews.Org> on Friday October 21 2016, @10:02AM (#417178) Homepage Journal

        Okay, the direction you keep going with your responses seems to indicate you think I'm either in or supportive of the "fuck that kid, he's obviously bad, ZERO TOLERANCE, MOTHERFUCKERS!" camp and it's starting to get annoying. Like I said in another reply here, the zero tolerance shit sucks for anyone subjected to it, and I think we need less of that for kids AND adults.

        I never took any issue with your point about zero tolerance. It's stupid and most of us are well aware of that.

        Just because I'm not sitting here going "aw that poor little kid :( burn the motherfucker that did this" doesn't mean I agree with what happened, it just means I preferred to remark on how people tend to assume kids do no wrong. We're quick to jump to conclusions when these sort of "my word against yours" stories happen instead of wondering what isn't being said, especially when one of the people involved is a kid or a woman. If the same story had come up, but about two grown men instead, the general reaction would be more critical and I find it interesting that it happens. People tend to have blind spots about certain topics, and kids are often one.

        Like I said, we have a term for people who "tend to assume kids do no wrong." We call them bad parents. So we're in agreement there too.

        It's not "my word against yours" at all. Or at least it won't be for long. From TFS:

        Inside sources have reported that the school is in possession of a videotape of the confrontation and the boy's attorney has submitted an open records request to gain possession of the footage in addition to 50 documents related to the incident. They plan to sue the school for $5 million. [emphasis added]

        We (or at least the legal system) won't have to wait very long to find out what really happened.

        Yes, if it was an altercation between two grown men, there would most certainly be hard questions being asked. That's not to say hard questions won't be asked this time either.

        The difference is that this child was under the custodial care of the school and, by extension, the staff member involved. The school is expected to safeguard the health and well-being of students, not injure them and then deny them access to medical care. One of these people was an adult, one was not. It is normally expected that adults have better impulse control and, in this circumstance, the knowledge and training to address issues without harming the child.

        Given the circumstance, and in the absence of additional information, it seems perfectly reasonable to conclude that the people responsible for the safety of this child failed in their responsibility, especially since one of those same people gravely injured the child, reportedly in the presence of other staff members.

        More information (such as the video mentioned in TFS) may change that assessment. Or it may not. I guess we'll just have to see.

        As I pointed out, I (through my own experiences) know very well that kids can be vicious little fucks. No blind spot here, friend.

        And back then people considered women to be chattel, disease to be caused by "evil spirits" and were just fine with owning other human beings. Do you believe that stuff to be true, good or appropriate too?

        What the hell? How is that even relevant to what I said? I didn't claim that assuming 13+ was adulthood was correct like you're attempting to imply here. I mentioned that it's interesting to think about the shift in perception, and now you're what, trying to insinuate that I'm cool with slavery and treating women like shit? Trying to disprove something I didn't actually claim? Either way, that's bullshit.

        I went back and re-read your comment, and I definitely misread/misinterpreted what you said.

        Given what you did say, the bit about women, slavery, etc. was *way* out of line. I was wrong.

        That bit was completely off base, and I offer you my apologies.

        --
        No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
        • (Score: 2) by Marand on Friday October 21 2016, @11:04AM

          by Marand (1081) on Friday October 21 2016, @11:04AM (#417188) Journal

          It's not "my word against yours" at all. Or at least it won't be for long. From TFS

          It is right now, but like you said, it won't for long. Whether it makes the news or not is anybody's guess, since this sort of thing tends to hit the news for sensationalism, and then when the facts roll in the media goes silent because it's chasing the next headline.

          I hope that isn't the case, though, because I'm interested in finding out what actually happened there. The story as-is sounds like either the teacher went absolutely berserk at random (seems unlikely but not impossible) or something else happened that led to the incident escalating far beyond what it should have.

          Regardless, whatever the catalyst was -- and I think there probably was one rather than a sudden, random attack -- I find it unlikely that the degree of violence was unnecessary. Whatever the reason for the incident, it's hard to imagine needing to go that far, though he may have thought it necessary at the time. Even if Mosley had to defend himself, it should have been possible to do so without all that.

          Note that I'm not speculating on fault or placing blame here, because we don't know enough currently to make a call on it. But it does make a good example of why self-defense classes are important, for either side. Knowing how to defend yourself can help you defuse bad situations less violently than they might play out otherwise. (Unfortunately, I say this from experience getting into [and out of] some bad situations in the past. Knowing some self-defense has saved my ass a few times.)

          As I pointed out, I (through my own experiences) know very well that kids can be vicious little fucks. No blind spot here, friend.

          Maybe not you, but it's amazing how blind people can be about kids. Especially their own, but others as well. Maybe it's a sort of "I can't imagine my kid doing that, so I can't imagine anybody else's doing it either" thing, I don't know. If I knew why I'd probably find the phenomenon less interesting.

          I went back and re-read your comment, and I definitely misread/misinterpreted what you said.

          It's fine, I just had no idea where it came from so I had to ask WTF. It's often hard to tell when someone is misinterpreting what you say vs. intentionally misrepresenting it so I was trying to question it rather than assuming malice. Plus there was always the chance what I said looked like I was saying that, though I didn't see how it could.

          So yeah, don't worry about it, no big deal.

          • (Score: 5, Insightful) by AthanasiusKircher on Friday October 21 2016, @02:40PM

            by AthanasiusKircher (5291) on Friday October 21 2016, @02:40PM (#417266) Journal

            I just had to reply to this thread and say how cool it is to see two people have a serious debate and even get a bit worked up, but then come to understand each other (while acknowledging where they misunderstood too).

            This sort of comment thread is incredibly rare on "that other site," where escalating "slash-and-burn" argumentation has become increasingly common. So, it's a really rare thing to see reasonable discussion (on the internet, in general). Kudos to both of you. Glad to have a place like SoylentNews.