A 15-year-old Georgia student, who was filmed attacking a high school teacher in a viral video, was sentenced to one year behind bars at a youth detention center after she pleaded guilty to a felony charge of aggravated battery against a teacher, per FOX 5 Atlanta.
The video of the January 26 incident involving Tiwana Turner – a teacher at Heritage High School – and the female student made national headlines after it was circulated on social media. Turner was hospitalized with a broken leg and other injuries in the aftermath of the attack.
“She just went off and pulled me down to the floor,” Turner, who said she has been teaching for nearly three decades, recalled. “I was in the hospital six days and the numbness was there all six days.”
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Turner is yet to return to the classroom because of the injuries she sustained from the attack, and now uses crutches or a walker. “I can’t go to work, I can’t see my students. I can’t do anything that I used to do. I can’t drive,” she said.
Besides spending one year behind bars, the 15-year-old girl will also be on supervised release for five years. Turner said she was trying to confiscate the teen’s phone when the girl took issue with that.
“The cell phones, they’re able to bring them to school. It’s becoming a huge issue. It’s like their livelihood,” said Turner. “You take it away, some of them go berserk.”
She also said the attitude of students has taken a nosedive. “I would say that if I had to start teaching with this generation of students, I wouldn’t have been able to,” she said.
After the video went viral, Turner told FOX 5 Atlanta she received an outpouring of support from people from other countries. “People who don’t know me have reached out to me. Have helped me. Are praying for me. Supporting,” Turner said. “That kind of treatment that holds you up when you fall […] I don’t take any of it for granted.”
Turner said that though home discipline should be a prerequisite, she wants emotionally-troubled kids and teens to have access to more resources. “The young lady,” Turner said, “Hopefully she will grow from this, she will get the help she needs.”
Despite her condition, Turner said she misses her students. A GoFundMe has since been set up for her to help raise funds for her rehabilitation and hospitalization fees.
