Madison principal assaulted, punched by student with fist 10 times
MADISON TOWNSHIP – Madison Comprehensive High School Principal Sean Conway was assaulted by a 16-year-old student in a classroom at about 9:30 a.m. Monday.
Conway told a Richland County sheriff’s deputy that the male student punched him in the face with a closed fist 10 times after he prevented the teen from leaving the classroom.
Conway told deputies the teen would not listen to him and kept telling him to fight him.
There were only three people in the classroom — Conway, a teacher, and the teen, the sheriff’s report said. Conway said after the 10th punch he grabbed the teen’s arms and held them down on the desk so the teen couldn’t punch him any more.
A deputy said in the report that the Madison principal initially contacted the sheriff’s office to report an incident occurring involving a student.
The deputy said Conway advised him that the teen “is running around the school threatening to hurt people and not listening to the principal’s orders to stay in the classroom.”
“On my arrival, I observed Mr. Conway with a very large black eye. He stated (name of teen) punched him in the face approximately 10 times. (The teen) was sitting in the classroom by himself and his father, who was in the classroom talking to him trying to calm him down, as Deputy Chris McCartney arrived to assist.
School Resource Officer Bryce Ernsberger said, “We attempted talking to (teen) and calming him down but he continued to say, “Whoop my a–” to us and would not comply. We talked to him for several minutes and I told him he needed to be handcuffed and taken to the office. His father stood him up and (the teen) started to swing his arms at which time myself and Deputy McCartney each grabbed one of his arms and took him to the ground while his father was bear-hugging him. We all went to the ground and were able to get him handcuffed and escort him to Deputy McCartney’s cruiser. He would not willingly get in the cruiser so we had push his body into the car to get him in.”
The teen was taken to the Juvenile Detention Center, according to the sheriff’s report.
But after he was in the cruiser the teen put his handcuffs in the front of his body and began smacking the handcuffs on the rear window of the cruiser trying to break the window, according to the sheriff’s report.
A deputy tried talking with the teen but he was uncooperative and the deputy had to open the door to the cruiser in order to get the teen to stop.
When the deputy did this, the teen began trying to bite the deputy’s hand and arms. The teen was pushed back and down to try and keep him from biting. A deputy closed the door and the teen began trying to break the window again. Deputies opened the door and tried to get the teen’s seat belt buckled. The student almost immediately began taking that off. The door was closed as he was trying to bite and became combative. He again tried to hit and break the vehicle’s windows, according to the sheriff’s report.
Deputies tried allowing his father to speak with the teen about what was going on. His father pushed him back in the cruiser telling him to stop. The teen was not cooperative. Deputies then transported him to the detention center where the boy tried to bite a corrections officer while she was trying to take his temperature for a COVID-19 check, the sheriff’s report said.
The teen was taken out of the car and was thrashing around.
A deputy pushed the teen up against a fence and another deputy assisted by pushing him as well. A deputy grabbed his hands and began walking him into the detention center. The teen was pushed up against a man for control and he began kicking at officers.
He was then placed into a restraint chair. He was then lifting his body up from the chair. The teen was kicking his feet and trying to get out of the chair. A deputy pushed up against the teen’s upper chest and shoulder area and put his leg on the boy’s legs to keep him restrained while they strapped him to the chair, the report said.
At about 11:30 a.m., the teen was involved in another incident, this time at the juvenile attention center, where he yelled threats saying he would “find McCartney when he gets out and murder him along with returning to the detention center and shooting the detention center up,” the sheriff’s report said.
The teen was charged with assault and was being held at the Richland County Juvenile Justice Center.
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Twitter: @LWhitmir
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