*Chicago police are investigating after a fight between two elementary school kids inside a classroom was caught on video and posted to social media. The children say they were forced to fight by the grown-up who was there to supervise.
According to WGN, the fight went down Monday during an after-school program at Stagg Elementary in Englewood.
Throughout the three-minute video, an adult voice is heard ordering the two boys to fight and egging them on. The students said that she had already locked the classroom door.
The boys in the video are reportedly friends and in the 5th and 6th grade. During their fight, one boy throws the other to the ground and pins him by the neck.
Their supervisor reminds them to make sure they’re still friends after the fight.
Gerald Jackson, one of the boys in the video, tells WGN that the teacher forced them to fight,
“She said if we didn’t fight, we were going to get beat up,” by her, he said.
Gerald’s mother Tameeah Blackshire says the other boy was hurt, but both were traumatized. She says her son suffered a panic attack after the fight and had to be rushed to a hospital.
“It makes you angry, especially with all the stuff that’s already going on in society today,” she said. “It makes you very angry, knowing you have a son and that’s not something you’re teaching him at home. But that’s something that at school, they’re condoning. It’s very, very frustrating.”
The school had already addressed the incident with some parents by the time the video went viral. It sent a letter out to the rest today, saying, in part:
The safety of your children is always our top priority … this adult is not a CPS employee and is no longer supervising after-school activities at our school.
Watch below:
