What’s going on with grown men assaulting middle schoolers lately?! First, there was the Michigan middle school employee who was caught on camera choking a 14-year-old student with a t-shirt, and now this.
Last week, as students from Whatcom Middle School in Bellingham, Wash. were walking back to campus from a school field trip, a 42-year-old Paul Jonathan Bittner, who is white, randomly walked up to a group of 6th graders, according to a statement from Bellingham Public Schools.
He allegedly approached a Black student, punched him in the face, and shoved him to the ground. The student chipped his tooth as a result, according to KIRO 7 News Seattle.
Before running away, witnesses told KIRO that the man yelled, “Are you gonna talk to a white man like that?!” A chaperon on the trip chased Bittner before he was arrested by local police.
Per a report from the Tri-City Herald, he continued to yell racial slurs as he was being arrested by law enforcement.
Days after the incident, Bittner was charged with malicious harassment and the assault of a child in the second degree. His bail is currently set at $500,000 according to the Whatcom County Jail.
The victim’s identity has not been shared with the public and it’s currently unknown if the 6th grader was the only Black student in the group.
In the statement from Bellingham Public School, Whatcom Middle School Principal Mischelle Darragh said that she let parents and students know that the police are investigating the attack as a hate crime and that they will offer counseling support to any students who require it.
“We are angry and shocked by what happened today,’’ said Darragh. “These events are extremely upsetting for everyone at our school and beyond. We are wrapping around our students and doing all we can to support them.”