CASEY COUNTY, Ky. (LEX 18) — Charges are being brought against a Casey County Middle School student after a racially charged incident at the school last week. The video circulating on social media shows a group of students gathered in the boy’s restroom as one student holds his arm around an African American student's neck.
After seeing the video, police brought charges in the case.
Liberty’s Mayor Steven Brown, says, "It was just one of those things that you can’t let pass. It's unacceptable behavior for children to be treated like that in any place much less your school system."
Mayor Brown says this doesn't represent the community.
Casey County Schools Superintendent Barry Lee says, "The behavior that occurred in the video will not be tolerated. The school administrators and the SRO took immediate action, but we must continue to be proactive in helping our students to understand that this is not acceptable behavior in our schools or in our communities."
Liberty Police say one student is facing charges, including strangulation and assault in the fourth degree.
Casey County School’s School Resource Officer and Liberty Police Officer, Jordan Buis, says, "As the police department, we have taken action. Immediately we started the investigation collecting information, collecting the video. Spoke with both parents and this is still ongoing today and paperwork has been filed already with the court-designated worker."
Officer Buis, says, "We're not going to stand for anything like that - if anything needs criminal charges, they're gonna have them."
Casey County Middle School leaders say that this isn't the first racially charged incident like this. Casey County Middle's principal, Jeff Emerson, says there have been nine other racial incidents this school year.
The school's minority population is less than 10%.
Mayor Brown says, "Parents need to spend more time with their children. And everybody needs to understand that any kind of abuse for any kind of person, is unacceptable."
This investigation is still ongoing.
Officers say that as they get more information additional charges could be brought against the student or any other students involved. We did reach out to the victim's family, and they declined to speak with us.
