#Socialites, this is such a horrible story! A California principal has been charged after violently shoving a Black 11-year-old student with autism, on camera. Prior to his charges, he resigned.
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Former California Principal Charged After Violently Shoving 11-Year-Old Student With Autism
Shocking surveillance footage has now been released showing the moment a Fresno, California principal Brian Vollhardt violently shoved a Black 11-year-old student with autism. Prior to resigning, Vollhardt worked as the principal at Wolters Elementary School.
On June 7, he was accused of getting into an altercation with a Black 11-year-old special needs student. After the incident, the student’s legal guardian, Ann Frank, was told by Vollhardt that the student had assaulted him. However, once at home, the student told her that it was his principal that attacked him.
But, newly-released surveillance footage now shows the exact opposite of Vollhardt’s claims. In the graphic video, the student is seen pointing at Vollhardt and speaking with him in the school’s cafeteria, as two other staff members stand on each side of the student. One male on the student’s left, and a female on his right.
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At one point, the child looks to be exiting the room with the two staffers, but then turns back and points at his principal again, this right before he is suddenly shoved to the ground with a hard push to his chest by his principal.
The female staff member, who was standing to the right of the student, rushes to his aide, as Vollhardt points down at the child and yells at him.
Following the incident, Fresno Unified School District Superintendent Bob Nelson called Vollhardt’s actions “repugnant” as they then reported him to the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing.
The student’s guardian said that it too more than three months for the tapes to finally be released and confirm what her child had told her. She says, “You cannot put force to these kids like that. My son is autistic. Any parents seeing this video, they know what I’m feeling right now. My son was pushed with force by this principal who was supposed to protect him.”
Vollhardt, who has a specialized certification for handling students with autism, ended up resigning amid a police investigation over the summer.
The warrant affidavit shows that Vollhardt claimed the student was “getting in his face” and made fists and pressed them against him, leading him to get defensive and shove the child.
Shortly after the incident and his resignation in Fresno, Vollhardt then took up another job as Vice Principal at Tranquility High School in The Golden Plains Unified School District.
After catching wind of the shocking video and the new charges of child abuse and child endangerment against Vollhardt, the second school’s district went and placed him on administrative leave as of Thursday (September, 8).
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