A Tallahassee mother is demanding answers after police say a private school driver beat her son with a belt \u2014 and she says she never gave anyone permission to discipline her child that way.<\/p>\n
“I’m not sure why they thought that was OK because it wasn’t,” Laketra Pleas said.<\/p>\n
Pleas said she was caught off guard when the video spread quickly online and was shared on Facebook.<\/p>\n
Tallahassee police arrested bus driver Timothy Bryant and charged him with child abuse without great bodily harm. An arrest affidavit says Bryant was working as a driver for Changing Lives Four Ever Private School when the incident happened.<\/p>\n
Investigators say a video shows a van stopping before a man pulls a child out of the vehicle and strikes him with a belt between 15 and 20 times. A passing neighbor captured the incident on video.<\/p>\n
Pleas said corporal punishment is not her parenting style and she never gave the school permission to use it.<\/p>\n
“I don’t even hit my child like that if he acts up. I like put him in a room, take his phone, like making him clean up, like punish him. I don’t whoop him the way the driver was whooping him,” Pleas said.<\/p>\n
Bryant appeared before a judge Thursday and was granted supervised pre-trial release.<\/p>\n
I stopped by the school and met the owner and administrator, Dr. Kista Miller. She said she did not want to comment or provide a written statement at this time.<\/p>\n
Pleas said she believes questions should be raised about how students are being disciplined at the school.<\/p>\n
“I want someone to go out and check on the school make sure all the kids not being hit the way my child was making sure it’s not no other type of abuse going on at school,” Pleas said.<\/p>\n
Pleas said she wants justice for her son and plans to take legal action.<\/p>\n
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.<\/p>\n
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