Kimberly Hardin of Memphis, Tennessee, is demanding an apology from her 7-year-old son's elementary school after video footage of him being dragged from a school bus by his feet went viral, FOX 13 Memphis reports.
Hardin said she was unaware of what happened to him until a parent sent her the video.
“Another parent of a child at the school contacted me Friday evening, and she said she had video of the teacher dragging my son off the school bus,” Hardin said. “Her son recorded it.”
The video shows a white teacher pulling Hardin's son from a school bus as other students shout. A fight reportedly occurred on the bus, and the Robert R. Church Elementary School teacher assumed Hardin's son was a participant.
Hardin said that her son wasn't involved and argued that no child deserves to be dragged by his or her feet.
Shelby County school officials reportedly did not tell Hardin about the incident until days after, she said. Before seeing the video, she was puzzled about how he'd gotten hurt, noting that the boy sustained several injuries during the incident.
"He had a concussion and his back was bruised," the mother said. She added that her son is now afraid of going to school.
District officials have placed the teacher on administrative leave; an investigation into the incident is underway.
"An employee from Robert R. Church Elementary is being investigated based on reports of forcibly removing a student from a bus while breaking up a fight last week," the local school district said in a statement. "We take any report involving student safety very seriously, and immediately reported this situation to the appropriate authorities. Per standard district procedure, this employee has been removed from the school while the matter is being investigated."