Moore student says teacher told him he’d ‘end up in the streets dead’ before fight

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - A student at Marion C. Moore School was suspended for fighting with a teacher who allegedly used a racially charged insult. Jefferson County Public Schools also removed the teacher, who the student said is his chemistry instructor, William Bennett.

“He said, ‘You’re going to end up in the streets dead,’” the student, 16-year-old Jamir Strane, said.

Strane said he is a gun violence survivor and was hospitalized in July 2020 after being shot in a drive-by shooting. He said he felt attacked when Bennett made the comment.

Shortly after the video of the fight surfaced on social media, protesters stood outside Moore to protest what they claimed to be racial slurs used by the teacher in the video. However, Strane said the teacher never called him a racial slur.

Bennett is shown in the video holding Strane down while students crowd around him, some of them jumping in to help Strane. The teacher can be heard ordering students to get security, but they object and tell him to get off Strane. Other staff members then appear in the video and try to pull Bennett off the student; however, he continues to knee Strane in the face and pull his hair.

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Strane claimed the fight started when Bennett objected to the mask he was wearing, resulting in an aggressive conversation and Bennett’s alleged comments toward Strane.

“I understand I was in the wrong, but you don’t have a right to put your hands on me,” Strane said.

Strane said Moore’s principal, Traci Morris, told him at the school security officers were not where they should have been to deal with the fight quickly.

In addition to his bleeding knee not far from his recovering gunshot wounds, Strane also showed where Bennett pulled his hair.

Strane’s mother, Erica, admitted her son is not a saint, but said she’s angry this happened tohim while he’s trying to get his life back on track.

“I’m going to be here every step of the way, you know that I have your back,” she told her son.

“I know, Mom,” her son said. “I don’t want you to worry about the situation. As long as I’m not dead Mama, I’m right by your side.”

Strane is suspended for 10 school days and faces an assault charge.

There’s no timeline on the JCPS investigation into Bennett’s actions. WAVE 3 News couldn’t reach him for comment.

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