An 18-year-old and four minors have been charged in an attack on a New Jersey high school student that left him unconscious — and would have been much worse had it not been for a teacher jumping into action to shield the student with her own body.
The violent incident occurred earlier in the week on a street corner outside a Bayonne school. The woman who broke up the fight has been identified by her family as a local special education teacher, but the superintendent has asked for her name not to be used.
The woman's daughter said she had to watch the-now viral cellphone video of the attack several times before she realized it was her mother who used her body to shield a young victim from being repeatedly kicked, punched and stomped on by the group of attackers.
"I was truly in shock because of how vicious the attack is," said the daughter. "I Facetimed her immediately. Her eyes were welled up with tears, I said 'Are you OK?' She said something very bad happened."
Police have charged an 18 year-old man and four minors with aggravated assault. The victim, a high school student, was rendered unconscious and taken to the hospital, though his exact injuries were not clear.
As for the teacher now being hailed a hero, she was not injured. Her family said they were not surprised she was willing to jump in.
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"Thank God she got on top of him because there was no end in sight. Her on her feet was doing nothing," the victim's daughter said. "I know her thought process was just getting it to stop, and she kept saying 'We called the cops, we called the cops,' and the kids wouldn’t stop. She just needed to get them to stop so that’s what her body did. There was no thought behind it."
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One parent said he has seen similar fights recently in this area just steps from a school.
"As a parent, one of the last concerns is a fight breaking out, but unfortunately in the last year or two it’s getting more frequent," the father said.
The minors charged in the attack range in age from 15-18. The district superintendent said the teacher embodies what everyone who lives and works in Bayonne is all about.
