A staff worker at a Florida school was arrested on Wednesday for allegedly putting a student in a chokehold.
Brandon Tyrone Henry, a Wimauma Youth Academy staff member, has been charged with aggravated child abuse, according to WFLA.
According to a pretrial detention application obtained by the station, Henry is accused of striking a pupil as they walked out of a classroom on January 17.
“As the victim was leaving that classroom, the defendant came up behind him and put him in a rear chokehold (right arm around the victim’s neck),” according to the lawsuit. “The defendant held the victim in this position for approximately ten seconds, rendering the victim unconscious.”
The teenager fell, biting his tongue “almost in half,” according to the affidavit. He also has cuts near his left eye, cheek, and mouth.
He was rushed to Florida’s HCA South Shore Hospital, where he received several stitches on his tongue, according to the Tampa Bay Times. According to the petition, the event was captured on video.
Henry is being held without a bond. The statement stated that “there are no conditions of release reasonably sufficient to protect the community from the risk of physical harm.”
Wimauma Youth Academy is a Florida Department of Juvenile Justice facility for males aged 14 to 18 years old. Henry had been the facility’s shift supervisor since 2012. According to a representative for Wayne Halfway House, he was initially placed on unpaid administrative leave before being sacked after authorities received a video of the incident.
“We have well-established conduct standards for staff and regularly reinforce those standards within all the facilities that we manage,” Hall went on to say.