School investigates bus aide who pulled a MAGA hat off student's head: 'She threatened me'
An investigation regarding a school bus aide has opened up in Florida, after the woman was caught on a surveillance video yelling at a student to take off his MAGA hat, before removing it from his head herself.
Gunnar Johansson, 14, told WPTV that students at Hidden Oaks Middle School were allowed to wear a hat to school this week if they donated to the March of Dimes. However, he never expected to have his cap pulled off before he even got to school.
The footage obtained by the local Florida outlet shows the teen wearing a hat that says “Make America Great Again,” along with President Donald Trump‘s name. Johansson said he chose to wear it “to show my pride in Trump America.” The aide seemed to think that the show of support wasn’t appropriate.
“Boy, if you don’t take that hat off on this bus…” the aide is heard saying in the video. “Take it off!”
Johansson said that he was confused by the aide’s reaction and asked why he wasn’t able to wear it.
“She threatened me with a referral and threatened to turn the bus around,” he told WPTV. “I said, ‘Write me up, I didn’t do anything wrong.’ And then she yanked my hat off.”
The middle schooler called the incident “crazy.” But his mother, Jackie Putt, is now questioning the legality of the aide’s actions after the school told the parent that there are no policies against the political nature of the hat that her son was wearing.
“We all have a right to who we want to vote for, this is America,” Putt told WPTV.
A Martin County Schools spokesperson tells Yahoo Lifestyle, “The District is aware of the family’s allegation, we take it very seriously, and we are currently gathering all of the facts as part of our investigation. To protect the integrity of the investigation, we cannot comment beyond that.”
The Martin County Sheriff’s Office didn’t reply to Yahoo Lifestyle’s request for comment. However, Lieutenant Ryan Grimsdale confirmed with WPTV that the aide did pull the student’s hat off, and assured that he would be reviewing the footage and interviewing everyone involved.
“The crux of our investigation will be the interaction directly, physically with the child and how that panned out,” he said.
In the meantime, Johansson said that the aide hasn’t been on the bus since the incident. And he hasn’t adjusted his beliefs.
“Standup for what you believe in,” Johansson said.
Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:
• Teacher’s assistant calls student ‘racist and sexist’ and wraps MAGA flag around his head in video
• High school students reportedly asked to leave school for wearing MAGA attire during spirit week
• High schooler faces potential criminal charge after video of him knocking MAGA hat off fellow student goes viral
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