An Examiner photographer, on assignment for a school-violence special report, told police a student assaulted her Thursday morning outsideReginald F. Lewis High School, the same school where art teacher Jolita Berry was viciously attacked by a student earlier this month.
Arianne Starnes, 24, said she was thrown to the ground after a student came out of a group of about 20 other students and accused her of taking his picture.
For Berry, who has filed second-degree assault charges against her alleged attacker, this wasn?t a surprise.
“That?s exactly what teachers have to put up with.” said Berry about Starnes? allegation. “You see what I mean? That?s how they are. It’s just crazy. I’m not surprised, but I think it’s horrible.”
The student allegedly grabbed Starnes? cameras, tugging at the straps and threatening her. After a struggle, Starnes was pushed backward to the ground. She fell on her cameras and immediately stood up but was again confronted by the student, who this time pointed his finger at her head and pretended to shoot her, saying “I told you not to take a f—— picture.”
Starnes who repeatedly told the student she did not take his photo, said there were no teachers or school supervisors present, but several students had posed for pictures and had given their names prior to the incident.
“The whole thing was unsettling,” Starnes said. “They were laughing and joking. No one was trying to stop it.”
After the attack, the student removed a blue bandana from his head and entered the school.
School police came to The Examiner?s offices on Pratt Street Thursday afternoon to take Starnes? statement, and an investigation is now under way.
Calls to Reginald Lewis High School principal Jean Ragin were referred to the Baltimore City Public School System?s North Avenue headquarters.
“We take any interaction on school grounds involving our students extremely seriously,” said school spokeswoman Edie House Foster. “We expect appropriate behavior from our students on and off school grounds.”
The incident with Berry made national news when a video of her assault was posted on YouTube. The video shows a female student sucker-punching Berry in her classroom, then straddling her and hitting her in the head while students cheered.
? Kelsey Volkmann contributed to this story
