After a disturbing video of a student slapping his teacher in the US state of North Carolina went viral on social media last month, prosecutors filed criminal charges against the teenager as an adult.
The video showed the teacher tied to a seat while the teenager was talking to her and hitting her, as the teacher tried to maintain her composure despite the slaps being directed at her.
The footage showed the student threateningly asking her: “Do you want me to hit you again?” The teacher replied: “I don’t want that.”
But the student suddenly hit her again from the right side, causing her glasses to fall off.
Criminal charges
For their part, prosecutors said that the student was subjected to criminal charges for allegedly attacking two separate teachers at the school, according to the New York Post website.
Seventeen-year-old Parkland High School student, Aquaface Hickman, from Winston-Salem, was formally charged last week with assault and kidnapping.
He was charged as an adult in two horrific attacks, including the aforementioned April 15 assault in which he slapped his teacher twice.
NEW: North Carolina high school student who went viral for hitting his teacher has been smacked with felony charges & is being charged as an adult.
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) May 5, 2024
This is how it’s done.
17-year-old Aquavis Hickman has been indicted on assault and kidnapping charges for two separate… pic.twitter.com/JOsO0bFiKX
Two terrible incidents
In the first incident, he was charged with second-degree kidnapping and misdemeanor rioting in a Feb. 1 attack on a teacher at his school although prosecutors said he did not act alone.
Last month, prosecutors said, the troublesome teenager went up to the teacher and beat her twice, and the attack was recorded in a video that later went viral even though the police did not release it.
Last week, the case involving the teenager was escalated from juvenile court to Superior Court, where a grand jury decided to formally charge him through an indictment.
School district representatives refused to offer any comments regarding the case or Hickman’s arrest.
