Marchell Mitchell, a substitute school security officer for Oakland High School, has been arrested and charged with a felony for injuring a child after he allegedly assaulted Francisco Martinez, a special needs student in a wheelchair.
The incident reportedly occurred on the morning of May 19th and was recorded on a school surveillance video according to the high school principle Matin Abdel-Qawi. The security officer was immediately fired from the school district, San Jose Mercury News noted.
Abdel-Qawi explained the incident in detail. The assault began after the police guard demanded that several students get to class, including Martinez. Martinez either didn’t comply or was taking a long time to get to class, so Mitchell took it upon himself to push the student to class. Martinez then smacked the hands of the guard, causing the guard to handcuff him. Martinez then spit on the guard, causing the assault to begin. The video showed Mitchell punching Martinez several times and throwing him out of his wheel char.
“He slapped me. He hit me so hard, it threw me out of my chair. I hit the floor with my chin first”, Martinez said in an interview with KTVU, according to The Huffington Post. Martinez also stated that the assault continued and that he was thrown into an elevator.
Abdel-Qawi delivered an apology on the behalf of the school stating that the incident was “deeply hurting” and that this is not the kind of behavior the school accepts.