Woman faces charges after videotaped incident on school bus in which she allegedly attacked 9-year-old said to have hit her son, 5

Police say Patrice Henry boarded a school bus to attack a 9-year-old who had allegedly hit her child in the face. (Photo: WWL-TV)
Police say Patrice Henry boarded a school bus to attack a 9-year-old who had allegedly hit her child in the face. (Photo: WWL-TV)

A mother in New Orleans faces battery charges after an incident captured on cellphone video footage, which purports to show her boarding a school bus and attacking a 9-year-old boy who had allegedly punched her kindergarten-aged son in the face.

According to WWL-TV, the incident took place on Feb. 4 during the ride home from Eisenhower Elementary School in New Orleans. Patrice Henry had received a phone call that day informing her that a 9-year-old had hit her son in the face. Henry boarded the bus after school and confronted the boy. The graphic video can be viewed here.

According to the police report, Henry, upon boarding the bus, repeatedly asked, “Who hit my son?” The other children pointed at the 9-year-old boy. She then “wrapped her hand around his neck area and struck him with a closed fist,” according to the police report.

The 9-year-old boy’s mother, Ashley Batiste, told WWL-TV: “You took matters into your own hands and decided to beat on my 9-year-old son! He was scared for his life, so he tried to fight back.”

Henry faces a simple battery charge, but Batiste, who was once a bus monitor herself, feels that the driver of the bus should also be held accountable. Batiste wants the bus driver fired for not preventing the incident from happening.

“In this case — cause she [the bus driver] didn’t do anything — a parent was able to get on the bus and beat my child,” Batiste told the outlet. “Choke him and slap him up against the windows. I feel like that’s not right at all.”

Inspire NOLA Charter Schools and the bus company, First Student, did not immediately respond to Yahoo Lifestyle’s requests for comment; however, NOLA Charter Schools insisted in a brief statement to WWL-TV that student safety is their top priority and that they are cooperating with police. First Student informed the outlet that the driver had been suspended pending an investigation.

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