A campus monitor at Tohopekaliga High School, who had only been on campus for a week, has been arrested after police allege he threw a student against a wall and down over his language.
Christopher Ferguson, 28, was arrested Monday and charged with child abuse without great bodily harm. He was released from the Osceola County Jail after posting a $1,000 bond on the same day an Osceola School District spokesperson said Ferguson resigned his school position, which he started on March 28.
Video footage released late Thursday afternoon shows a large adult picking up a student and holding him against the wall up near the ceiling. After he falls to the ground and gets up, the adult is shown shoving the student in the chest.
There is video footage from the hallway where the incident happened, and the victim’s girlfriend reportedly took pictures of the incident. They were entered as evidence against Ferguson, who chose not to speak with deputies.
According to an Osceola County Sheriff’s Office arrest affidavit, deputies were called to THS Monday afternoon after a student reported Ferguson lifted him up and off the ground by his neck and throwing him against a wall and to the ground. The student reported Ferguson sent him out of the In School Suspension (ISS) for not approving of how he was speaking with curse words.
When the student reportedly said Ferguson was “in his feelings," Ferguson summoned the student back and committed the act, which left red marks over the student’s neck and chest area.
The identity and any injuries are confidential under the state’s Marsy’s Law regarding minors. THS officials contacted the Department of Children and Families.
A user-protected Twitter account shows Ferguson listed as the Tohopekaliga High offensive line coach. Anthony Paradiso was hired earlier this school year as the Tigers’ new head football coach.
