JACKSONVILLE, FLA. (WSVN) – A high school teacher in Jacksonville has been reassigned after a viral video appears to show him body slamming a student during a pep rally.
Students and staff at Westside High School were playing a game of musical chairs during a pep rally on Friday when Nyla Millikin was thrown onto the hardwood floor.
“I was in the chair already. [He] grabbed me and then threw me, basically slamming me, and I was sitting there for a little minute like, ‘Why am I on the ground?’ Like it happened so fast, in a blur, so I was like, ‘Wow,'” said Millikin.
The force of the slam shown in the viral video caused Millikin to knock her out of her shoes.
“She said, ‘Mom, my head is hurting me really, really bad and on my side,’ and I said, ‘So, what happened, love?’ And she said, ‘A teacher picked me up and slammed me,'” said Joanna, Millikin’s mother.
Millikin said she ended up suffering a concussion and bruised ribs and hasn’t been back to school since it happened.
Her family is demanding more to be done after the teacher was reassigned from his position.
“Just imagine getting slammed on a gym floor that is hard, and like my mom said, we need to do more, because we go through this uniform policy, and I want to see some action,” said Millikin’s sister.
The teacher sent a message to Millikin after the incident, asking if she was OK, but her mom says that’s too little, too late.
“He should’ve checked up on my daughter instead of running away like, you know, he won a million dollars,” she said.
Despite her injuries, Millikin said she’s just focused on moving forward and choosing to forgive the teacher for his actions.
She also said she will return to school once she’s cleared by doctors.
“Me, I don’t have nothing against him. Like they said, it wasn’t intentional, but at the end of the day, a grown man, by the way, me on the ground. I’m forgiving regardless, I’m a Christian, so I’m forgiving him,” said Millikin.
The school district so far has reassigned the teacher to a job that does not involve direct interaction with students.
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