Watch CBS News

CBS2 Exclusive: Boy, 8, Says He Was Hurt By Staffer At School In Harlem

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- An 8-year-old boy says he was injured by someone who works at his school in Upper Manhattan.

The staff member is suspended, but the boy's mother tells CBS2's Dave Carlin she's not satisfied. The fading bruise on her son's forehead looked much worse Tuesday, after Sharon Faust says Rasheed was roughed up by a staffer inside PS 194 in Harlem.

"He pulled me into the wall and I bumped my head," Rasheed said. He admits he was fighting with another boy in the cafeteria. A teacher broke it up, then he says a man who may be a so-called crisis counselor stepped in.

Rasheed says he was forcefully pulled down the hall.

"And then I was struggling and then he blew me into the wall," he said. "He pulled me back and I got hurt right here."

Taken to the nurse, he was given an ice pack seen in a photo his mother took.

"I got the call from the nurse that my son got a bump on his head," Sharon said. "I didn't get the full story."

When told a staffer was not only involved, but possibly responsible, she was livid.

"Why did you put your hands on my child," Sharon asked.

CBS2 requested answers from the school's principal, but a school safety officer directed us to the school's press office which would not confirm the man's name. They did say he's a contract worker not on the Department of Education's payroll.

They say he's suspended from the partner program pending the outcome of the investigation. Sharon says she knew she needed to get police involved.

She called, and they came. Sharon says when officers saw the knot on her son's head, they insisted he be checked out in Harlem Hospital. The mom adds she may not have even called the authorities if the school had been more open and let her talk to the man.

"Him not coming to apologize, that's a guilty man," Sharon said.

Rasheed was kept home from school, and his mother says he has no desire to return.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.