Prosecutors say a fired Vance County, N.C., sheriff’s deputy filmed lifting and ramming a middle school student to the floor has been charged with three misdemeanors.
The Raleigh News & Observer reports that Warren Durham, who was a resource officer at Vance County Middle School in Henderson, has been charged with assault on a child under 12, misdemeanor child abuse, and failure to discharge duties. He was arrested Tuesday with bail set at $10,000.
District Attorney Mike Waters says the charges stem from a Dec. 12 complaint from the Vance County school district “regarding the assault on an 11-year-old boy by a law enforcement officer.” A security camera at the middle school caught the incident on video.
The student did not suffer severe injuries as defined by North Carolina law, Waters says. Had his wounds been more severe, prosecutors could have pursued felony charges.
State law defines felony injuries as wounds that create a risk of death, disfigurement, coma or extreme pain. The child had bruises.
The child’s grandfather, John Miles, says the family’s is concerned over the lighter charges Durham is facing. The child will be home-schooled rather than return to Vance Middle.
“I am totally disappointed in the law itself,” says Miles. “I still stand today and forgive this man for hurting my grandson. I am not happy with the misdemeanor charges.”
Waters says he does not know what led to the incident between the deputy and student, but that it didn’t matter as far as charging the officer.
“I don’t think there is any kind of training, or anything like that, that would lead someone to act like that with an 11-year-old,” he says.
