By Eryn Rogers – GREENVILLE COUNTY, S.C. (WSPA) – A Greenville County mother says a Tanglewood Middle School teacher threw books at her 11-year-old son Tuesday afternoon.
"It's scary because I can't even trust the teachers," Brianda Johnson said. "That's my baby, so it's scary. It hurts."
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Johnson said the principal of the school called her Tuesday afternoon, but she wasn't expecting the message she got on the other end of the phone.
"My biggest fear is sending my kid to school and being hurt or bullied by another child…When he said it was an adult teacher, it was like my heart just dropped," Johnson said.
She says the principal told her the teacher wanted to teach her son a lesson.
"Jamare had the books, and he was passing them out real fast, and he was laying them down, and they were kind of sliding on the table," Johnson said.
She says the teacher didn't like the way he was doing it.
"The teacher stood up, no words, didn't say stop," Johnson said.
She said that's when he started throwing the books.
I turned around and saw a book coming at me," 11-year-old Jamare Duckett said. "Then the second one hit me on my shoulder, and the third one hit me on the side of my face."
He came home with a scratch on his face and bruising and swelling on his cheek.
"It was burning and hurting," Duckett said.
The Greenville County Schools District released the following statement:
"Tanglewood Middle School administrators, Greenville County Schools officials and the Greenville County Sheriff's Office are investigating a teacher's alleged inappropriate actions toward a student. The accusations involve a teacher throwing books at a student. The teacher has been placed on administrative leave while the incident is thoroughly investigated."
The mother says it makes her concerned for other students in the class. She says she knows teaching is a hard job, but she wants this teacher to learn a lesson.
"If physically harming a child is a way of showing him discipline, then you need to be taught one too," Johnson said.
The Greenville County Sheriff's Office said they are actively investigating what happened, and they'll send a release when the investigation is complete.