A band teacher from Maywood Academy High School in Los Angeles has been in the news for engaging in a fierce fist fight with a 14-year-old student who provoked him with insults and racial slurs.
The incident, which occurred on Friday, began when Marston Riley, 64, asked the student to leave his class because he wasn’t in the proper school uniform. Visually angry, the teen threw a basketball he was holding at the teacher and followed it with a barrage of insults and racial slurs.
“You got me f*****d up, my n***a,” the boy could be heard in the video saying. “Why’s your voice cracking, my n***a? Yeah … you ain’t tough. You ain’t sh*t.”
RELATED STORIES
The teen continued taunting Riley calling him a “hoe ass b**ch” and that was when he lost his cool and hit him with a series of punches with some landing.
The two were eventually separated and Riley was arrested and charged with child abuse. The injured teenager was taken to the hospital and treated for his injuries.
Riley was released on Saturday after posting a $50,000 bail. The entire incident was met with mixed reactions from some students and parents.
Speaking with CBS Los Angeles with permission from their parents, some students expressed support for Riley.
“The kid really messed up doing that – calling him the N-word,” a student said.
“He’s a wonderful teacher. He’s just here to help us learn how to play instruments,” another added.
Riley’s neighbour, Greg Jones, who was also interviewed also shared the same sentiments.
“To make racial slurs, at your own teacher — that’s wrong,” Jones said. “That’s not something that should be taught in school. That should be taught at home.”
After the incident, a GoFundMe page was launched for Riley by his sympathizers to help raise funds to cover his legal expenses. As at Tuesday, the campaign had raised over $75,000.
Riley also came out in a video to express gratitude for all the support.
The L.A. Unified School District also released a statement saying they were investigating the incident.
Take a look at the physical altercation below and share with us your thoughts.
A Black band teacher-Marston Riley was arrested after he defended himself from a hispanic student who hit him with a basketball,called him multiple epithets, & continued to threaten him. If this were a Black student, the kid would have been arrested & the teacher would be a hero pic.twitter.com/0KkQi3Zk2t
— Tariq Nasheed (@tariqnasheed) November 4, 2018
