Three parents who were enraged that they couldn’t get their children into a Brooklyn, New York City primary school without documentation of COVID immunization assaulted a school safety officer, causing her to be hospitalized.
On Thursday, April 7, three parents, two fathers and a mother, arrived at the school about 2 p.m. with cake and pizza, according to Gregory Floyd, the head of Teamsters Local 237, which represents the city’s school safety agents.
“A child of one of the parents was celebrating a birthday at the time of the incident, so as the parents passed through the entrance, they were greeted by a school safety agent, who asked for proof of vaccination — but the parents rushed past her, saying they had already called ahead and spoken to someone about it,” Gregory Floyd said.
“Please don’t touch me!” Please don’t touch me! As she tried to stop them, the mother yelled at the agent, “Don’t touch me!” The two fathers allegedly held the 30-year-old school safety agent down as the mother allegedly abused her, yanking her hair and ripping off one of her fingernails.
“We’re talking about three persons, parents, assaulting a school safety agent in uniform,” Floyd explained.
The trio left following the incident, but Floyd said one of the fathers was detained after returning to pick up his child. According to union officials, the 10-year veteran school safety agent was brought to Brookdale Hospital with bruises and sprains. Her right thumb’s nail was removed, and she’ll need x-rays to see whether anything was damaged.
He claimed the mother returned to make a 911 call stating the school safety agent had arrested her and that she had been arrested as well. The parents were advised ahead of time that they may drop off their birthday presents but wouldn’t be permitted inside due to COVID limitations, according to the NYPD.
Kijana Harbin, the student’s father, is charged with felony assault, disorderly conduct, and harassment, according to police. Tazaine Brooks, 26, has been charged with criminal assault.
According to Floyd, the school has 429 pupils, no cameras, and only one NYPD school safety agent deployed.
“This demonstrates the need for at least two school safety agents once again.” He stated that they should not work alone. “They don’t have any weapons on them.” And now we have to worry about disturbed parents.”
“We do not condone acts of violence at our schools or against any member of our school community, particularly our great school safety agents who keep our children safe,” said Jenna Lyle, a spokesperson for the Department of Education.
“There were no students present at the time of the occurrence, and we are cooperating fully with the NYPD’s investigation.”