A white Catholic high school student in Louisiana was arrested and charged this week after he was caught on video attacking a Black classmate by throwing cotton at him and then whipping him with a belt, authorities said.
The Terrebonne Parish Sheriff’s Office said Tuesday that the ninth-grade student from Vandebilt Catholic High School has been arrested for simple battery and a hate crime and taken to the Terrebonne Parish Juvenile Justice Center. The 15-year-old has yet to be identified.
A video of the teen attacking the other student went viral last week. In footage provided to WWL-TV, a white male student walks over to a Black classmate sitting at a table in a crowded Vandebilt lunchroom. The white student throws cotton at the Black student, then repeatedly whips the Black student with a belt.
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“We can’t sweep this under the rug,” Vandebilt alumnus P.J. Allridge, who is a friend of the victim’s family, told WWLT.
Terrebonne Parish Sheriff’s Office said on Facebook last week that the incident appeared to be racially motivated, and took place during school hours.
“Good! About time someone sets the example,” Facebook user Jackie Outhouse wrote in response to the post.
“No human being should ever be treated in the manner this young boy was treated,” Carey Clement Redmond said. “A 9th grade student KNOWS better than to act like that. He deserves his consequences. Under no circumstance should this be tolerated.”
The sheriff’s statement added that the victim’s parents met with detectives as part of the investigation.
“The parents of the victim also met with the school’s administration and they are diligently assisting the parents with addressing this non-acceptable episode,” the sheriff added.
The victim’s family shared a statement with WWLT, saying they hope the incident will serve as a lesson to others.
“We will continue to pray for our school community as a whole, that we not only get through this together, but that we each learn a valuable lesson from what has taken place,” the victim’s family said.
Vandebilt Catholic High School is a private school in Houma, Louisiana. The institution, which requires applicants to submit to interviews before they’re accepted, says its mission is “committed to spiritual formation and academic excellence in an environment rooted in Catholic values and in the teachings of Jesus Christ.” The school mostly serves Catholic students of the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux and is the only Catholic school in Terrebonne Parish.
Vandebilt Catholic High School did not immediately respond to The Daily Beast’s request for comment.
