CHICAGO (WLS) — A Chicago school custodian reported being assaulted while on duty at a West Side elementary school, with surveillance footage seemingly capturing the incident.
Now, he’s calling for more action to be taken by Chicago Public Schools.
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He explained that the confrontation began unexpectedly when an argument with a teacher assistant at John M. Smyth Elementary School over wet floors escalated into violence.
He showed ABC7 video of the apparent attack that he said the school allowed him to record.
“Wow, this really happening?” alleged assault victim Elton Odell, Jr. “You know, like, he done actually hit me?”
After four months of employment, Odell did not anticipate leaving his position at John M. Smyth Elementary School with 15 stitches in his lip as a custodian.
“Regardless of any argument or verbal exchange, no one has the right to physically attack you,” Odell stated firmly. “It’s as straightforward as that.”
The confrontation happened while Odell was nearing the end of his shift Monday evening around 5:45 p.m.
A recorded video, which Odell claims he was authorized to film by school officials, shows him mopping when tensions rise as another individual steps onto the wet surface. ABC7 concealed the man’s identity since no charges have been made.
“The safety concern is real; someone could slip and tumble down the stairs,” Odell remarked. “The other person made some dismissive comments and attempted an apology, but I refused. I told him, ‘Man, that’s completely disrespectful.'”
The teacher assistant is then seen coming up the stairs, removing his backpack. Then, the confrontation ensues.
He’s telling me, ‘Don’t walk up on me,’ which apparently, you can see in the video, I never moved towards him,” Odell said. “So, I proceed to turn to my left to walk away and that’s when I was struck twice… I wanted to protect myself because he invaded my space, but I knew it would’ve been the wrong thing to do, that I would lose my job.”
He said the video showed it all unfolding in front of another teacher assistant and a young child.
After reporting the alleged attack to police, Odell says he went to the hospital with injuries to his lip, but it’s the mental scars left behind that he says will be hard to heal from.
“It makes me very upset about that,” Odell said. “I relive it each day now.”
There’s no word on the status of that teacher assistant at the school.
A Chicago Public Schools spokesperson said they are looking into the incident while ABC7 awaits a response.
Chicago police said they’re investigating and no one is in custody.
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