Florence Christian School sued over alleged student assault, teacher negligence
FLORENCE, S.C. (WBTW) — Florence Christian School is being sued by the parents of a student who claim their child was assaulted by another student in the presence of a teacher/coach who did nothing to stop it, according to a lawsuit obtained by News13.
The 27-page lawsuit refers to the parents as James and Jane Doe. The student/child is referred to as John Doe.
Florence Baptist Temple, Florence Christian School, Michael Baron Smith III, and S.P., an anonymous minor who allegedly assaulted John Doe were named in the suit.
Florence Christian School is owned, supported, controlled, and affiliated with Florence Baptist Temple, according to the suit. Florence Baptist Temple is a large Southern Baptist affiliated church in Florence County.
The suit alleges in 8th grade at Florence Christian School that John Doe was assaulted by a minor identified only as S.P.
The suit alleges John Doe had weight room as an elective and that Smith was Doe’s physical education teacher. Smith would unfairly punish him.
When asked about the disproportionate punishments, Smith would respond that John Doe was disrespectful to him by asking why he was receiving certain punishments while others were not for similar actions, the suit alleges.
The suit details the punishments John Doe received, including having to perform excessive exercises like bear crawls and sandpits ordered by Smith.
A bear crawl requires crawling the length of the football field on hands and toes with knees bent. Sandpits require the students to crawl forty yards using only their elbows through a pit of sand, gravel, and a lot of times, fire ants. The suit called the act “grueling.”
On Oct. 18, Doe was told by Coach Smith he had to perform an hour of continuous movement in sandpits for not finishing up his punishment from the day before, the suit alleges.
The alleged assault occurred the same day as the punishment, according to the lawsuit.
Doe allegedly benched a new goal of weights and was celebrating with his friends when he was approached by S.P., the lawsuit said. The student allegedly cursed Doe and began to choke him.
According to the lawsuit, S.P. is bigger than Doe and two years older than him. S.P. had Doe’s neck in the bend of his arm.
The suit said S.P.’s muscles were flexed so tightly that Doe could not breathe or speak. Doe attempted to let S.P. know that he was being choked out by using his hands to hit S.P.’s trunk and legs, but he would not stop choking Doe.
Doe said he heard people’s voices fade and began to lose his vision, according to the lawsuit. Doe’s body went limp and as he lost consciousness, S.P. allegedly dropped him and caused him to hit the wall and then the floor.
Doe’s friends reported that he was unconscious for about 30 seconds. The suit alleges Smith was three feet away from the incident wrapping another student’s ankle.
Doe recalled looking at Smith as he was being choked out, the lawsuit said. As Doe woke up, he began to cry and looked at Smith, who would not acknowledge him.
An older student assisted Doe to the locker room. After getting himself together, Doe approached Smith and asked if he saw what happened. Smith allegedly told him to “sit down” and they would “talk later,” according to the lawsuit.
Another coach came and spoke to Doe before calling his mother to tell her what happened.
The next day, Jane Doe went to Florence Christian School and spoke to the principal to find out how the choking incident would be handled as well as Smith’s lack of intervention, the suit said.
The principal informed Jane Doe that S.P. received one day of punishment as a result of the incident, according to the suit.
The suit alleges since the day of the assault, John Doe missed a lot of school due to “not feeling comfortable attending school with a coach/teacher signaling him out, a student who could choke him again with little punishment, and administration trying to sweep it under the rug.”
The suit further alleges no one sought medical attention for John Doe after he was choked out and struck his head.
The suit claims that “Florence Christian School and Florence Baptist Temple were negligent, grossly negligent, and reckless in their actions towards John Doe by failing to have proper policies and procedures in place, failing to monitor and supervise teachers/coaches and failing to protect students from foreseeable harm.”
The suit also claims Smith was “negligent, grossly negligent, and reckless in his actions towards John Doe, failing to intervene while an older, bigger student was assaulting J.D and being an adult bully.”
The parents requested a jury trial.
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Taylor Ford is a digital journalist for News13. She joined the News13 team in January 2023. Taylor is a Florence native and covers the Pee Dee out of News13’s Florence Bureau. Read more of Taylor’s work here.
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