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New Abuse Claim Against Bethel
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Another allegation of physical abuse at Bethel Girls Academy has an angry parent taking action.
"I got a call at 11:30 at night telling me they're taking my child to the emergency room because my child's wrist is swollen and they think it's broken, so when I get a call back they're telling me it's broken," says Angela Roberts.
Last Saturday, Roberts says, she received some shocking news. Officials at Bethel told her that her 16-year-old daughter Angenika injured herself after she slammed her fingers in a door and punched a wall. But Roberts says she's not buying it. She claims the school's director Herman Fountain is responsible.
"My daughter says Mr. Fountain grabbed her and took his knees and put it in my daughter's pelvis area and grabbed her wrist and pushed it all the way back until it popped," she says. "That is ridiculous."
Angenika McNeil, the alleged victim, says: "He just jacked me up and he slung me into the door and that's how I got this cut on my eye and when I got into his office he put his knee into my stomach and started bending my hand back and then I jerked it away from him."
Roberts has filed a complaint with the Forrest County Sheriff's Office against Bethel Academy.
But Fountain gives a different account of what happened. He says it was last Thursday, and he tried to restrain Angenika after she lashed out.
"She bit my arm right here. I've got a bruise right here," he says. "She kicked me in the chest and in the legs and I just held her down until she calmed down."
Fountain says Angenika was not injured during Thursday's incident, but instead had to be taken to the e-room Saturday after she injured herself.
"Mr. Fountain needs to pay for his actions," Roberts insists. "He needs to be put in jail for his actions. It makes no sense for a man to do those types of things to these children. I don't care what type of children they are."
