A Providence, Rhode Island assistant principal has been placed on administrative leave pending the investigation of a physical altercation involving a student. The incident occurred at Central High School in Providence, Rhode Island.
In one incident which was caught on camera, Assistant Principal Thomas E. Bacon was recorded pinning a male student to the floor in the cafeteria. In the background, other students surrounded Bacon, with one person shouting, “Tell him to get off!”
The student in the video his 15-year-old Amare Pemberton. Pemberton was charged with two counts of simple assault. Meanwhile, no charges have been filed against Bacon.
Principal Bacon told authorities that he was attempting to escort a Pemberton from the cafeteria because he had cut in line. Bacon says at this point that Pemberton began pushing his way past other students. “I tried to gently guide [the student], who then dropped his bag and raised his clenched fists,” Bacon said.
According to the police report, Bacon said the student “began throwing punches and elbows toward Mr. Scott and myself and yelling, ’Touch me again boy … you’ll be face down. … I’ll clock you.”
Bacon told the police that he tried to restrain the student but the youth continued to resist and they both fell to the floor. But Amare’s mother, Jennifer Pemberton, 43, of Providence, said Bacon kept grabbing her son’s arm.
“The next thing you know, he tackled him,” Pemberton said, referring to Bacon. “He was choking my son. He put a knee on my son’s chest. In the video, everyone can see my son wasn’t being combative.”
Pemberton acknowledges, however, that her son struck Bacon in an attempt to get the principal off of him. Two students from Central High School — who identified themselves as Taylon Rodriguez, 17, and Alex Sanchez, 16 — told a version similar to Amare’s.
The Providence Public School District released a statement regarding Bacon/Pemberton incident:
“Public Schools were alarmed and dismayed by the physical altercation in the cafeteria at Central High School on Monday involving a student and an assistant principal,’ it read. ‘The district immediately contacted the police and put the assistant principal on administrative leave, pending a personnel review. Additionally, the school district has explicitly requested that police investigate the incident in its entirety.”
The Providence Student Union, a local student activist group, called for Bacon’s firing and demanded a public apology from Central High School. In a public statement, the activist group said they want the administration to take steps to prevent similar incidents from happening.
