School employee on leave after video of him pushing student surfaces

By Jonathan Ayestas and Erin Heft

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    SACRAMENTO, California (KCRA) — A Sacramento City Unified School District employee is on leave and under investigation after video surfaced showing him pushing a student.

Video released on social media shows the man purportedly walking up to a group of students and pushing one of them to the ground. The student then got up and walked up to the man; a brief argument between the two unfolded, and the man pushed the student again.

The school district said the person is a staff member — not a teacher — at Umoja International Academy Campus. The district said it also reached out to the student involved and his family offering assistance.

“SCUSD treats all matters involving student and staff safety with the utmost importance and will take appropriate action at the conclusion of the investigation,” a statement from the school district read in part.

Parents who spoke to KCRA 3 acknowledged either seeing or hearing about the video.

“It was disturbing,” one parent said. “I think no matter what the situation typically is, there’s no call for an adult to be pushing a child down, which is basically what happened. He pushed him twice from what I saw in the video. He pushed him twice, and the second time, the kid fell down on the ground.”

The Sacramento Police Department said it received a report of the school incident. Officers are contacting the student, the employee and witnesses.

The employee told KCRA 3 on Friday that he was acting to prevent an attack on another student.

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