Parents speak out after teacher threatens to decapitate child who called Israeli flag offensive
For the first time, the parents of a student who was threatened by a Houston County teacher are speaking out.
Police said Benjamin Reese, a teacher at Warner Robins Middle School, threatened to chop off a 13-year-old girl’s head after she asked about an Israeli flag in his classroom.
He was allegedly heard yelling, “You [expletive] piece of [expletive]! I’ll kick your [expletive]! I should cut your [expletive] head off!” at a group of three girls, according to statements in the incident report.
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Channel 2′s Michael Doudna spoke exclusively with her parents and found out they want changes made.
Lina and Alaa Afifi want their child to be safe, they don’t want the teacher to ever work again as an educator and they want the school to be more transparent about the threats made to students.
“I’m sending my daughter to school to learn and come home safe,” said Alaa Afifi.
“He came closer to her physically in her space and then accused her and told her that she was being antisemitic,” said Lina.
An incident report states that teachers and staff heard the situation rapidly escalate and that they saw the girl walking away as Reese yelled curse words at her before the teacher yelled that he should drag the 13-year-old to the parking lot and cut off her head.
“Not only to threaten to kill her but to have a plan. Like saying how and what and how he’s going to perform it,” said Lina.
The school immediately barred the teacher from returning to school and the sheriff’s office booked Reese for making terroristic threats and cruelty to children in the 3rd degree, But he was soon released on a $7,500 bond.
“I really was not happy, and I was scared, very scared,” said Lina.
The family says school policy prevented the family from knowing the full extent of the threats made by the teacher until the following week, which was days after Reese was released from jail without a GPS tracker.
“I would have taken care of my daughter and her safety of my daughter as much as I could from the get-go,” said Lina. “We felt that we were failed again.”
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So now, the family is calling for changes. They want parents to be kept in the loop about the exact threats their child may face. They want those who threaten to kill kids to have a higher bond and more monitoring.
“To me, he needs to be held responsible for every word he says, for action he says,” said Lina.
The school district says Reese is no longer employed with the school.
As for the case against the former teacher, the family says the legal process will begin next week.
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