An elementary school principal in Atlanta is under fire after being accused of stomping a 9-year-old autistic student on campus and causing him to break his leg.
Dr. Lisa Shell, who works on the campus where her son was injured, said Cooper Elementary School principal Paul Willis confronted the child in the behavior recovery room.
“We were actually walking out the door and I’m like, ‘Why are you still limping? And he said, ‘Because Mr. Willis stomped on my leg,'” Shell told 11 Alive.
Shell also shared a video she took of her son after the incident. The clip shows the boy limping and pointing to his leg.
“Mr. Willis stomped on my leg,” the child said in the video.
The devastated mother said her child now has a broken tibia.
Willis explained his side of the story in an email to parents. The principal said the boy had “physically attacked a classmate” before being taken to the behavior recovery room. Willis added that the student was then “hitting, kicking, and biting the principal.”
While the boy is now suspended from school, Shell is not sure if she wants him to return to the campus. She is also uncertain about her own employment at the school.
Still, Shell plans to continue to fight for justice for child. The Atlanta mother is calling for disciplinary action against the principal.