"The assistant principal grabbed me:" MPS administrator accused of punching student
MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- School playgrounds can be magical places, where kids can still be kids. Places where we expect children to act like children. And when things get out of control, there's normally an adult nearby who can step in. But what happens when the adult is the one who throws the first punch?
"The assistant principal grabbed me. And he grabbed me by my collar and pushed me up against the brick wall," says 14-year-old Lequon McCoy.
This school year, McCoy was an eighth-grader at Carson Academy.
Back in May, he says he was getting off the bus when he tried to start a fight with another student -- a Facebook drama that had escalated and spilled over to the school playground.
"I just remember everybody crowding around and just laughing and stuff. I was embarrassed and didn't even want to go back to that school," McCoy says.
Police were called, but not for the reason you might think.
The assistant principal, trying to prevent a fight, found himself in the middle of one.
Students who saw what happened said Assistant Principal Phil Rhymes had "jacked" Lequon up by his collar against the school's brick wall, trying to convince the 14-year-old to calm down.
"I am trying to push him away and tell him I can't breathe and I knock his glasses off. He looked down at the glasses and he looked back at me and says, 'You F-up!' and he punches me in my mouth," McCoy says.
Police, investigating what they initially called a child abuse complaint, took pictures of the principal's bloody knuckle and the eighth-grader's split lip. Some students said Mr. Rhymes punched McCoy three times. Some said it was 10 times. Others said it was just once.
"My lip instantly cut and my mouth was all bloody and stuff, " McCoy says.
Rhymes says he hit the boy because the principal feared for his own safety, though his account of what happened is not consistent in school records.
In one report, he writes the student hit him with a closed fist, striking him several times. In other reports, he writes that the student only threatened to hit him.
Rhymes does admit to punching the boy.
The Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office decided not to press charges against the principal. In a letter to the boy's parents, prosecutors write "although it is generally illegal for an adult to cause bodily harm to a child, state law says that a school employee may use reasonable force against a child for the purpose of maintaining order and control."
"It ain't no excuse punching my son. I don't care what my son did," says McCoy's mother, Antoinette Broomfield.
Milwaukee Public Schools says it can't comment on the specifics of a personnel matter. In an email, a spokesperson from MPS wrote the matter was investigated and appropriate action was taken.
According to district policy, though, teachers are allowed to use physical force against students as long as it's a last resort.
"I know nowhere in the handbook it says you can deliberately punch a child in the face. I can't do it," says the boy's mom.
If you think punching a kid is going too far, you don't know the half of it.
For McCoy, Grand Theft Auto is just a video game. For Phil Rhymes, it was real life.
In 2004, Rhymes was sentenced to prison for the role he played in a nationwide stolen vehicle ring. Rhymes and his buddies altered vehicle identification numbers and falsified title documents. Then they sold stolen cars to people all over Wisconsin.
At the time, Rhymes was a teacher at MPS. He even asked to serve his prison time during the summer, when school was out, so he wouldn't lose his job.
And he didn't.
Instead, it appears he was promoted to school administrator -- an assistant principal with an education in mail fraud and money laundering.
McCoy was suspended from school for five days after the incident in May. We still don't know if Rhymes received any discipline.
The school classified the incident as an assault against a staff member.
The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction says the assistant principal's teaching license has never been revoked. Teaching licenses may be revoked for incompetency or immoral conduct. DPI says his involvement in the stolen vehicle ring did not amount to immoral conduct because it did not involve children.
FOX6 News sent an open records request two months ago to Milwaukee Public Schools asking if they knew about Rhymes' involvement in the stolen vehicle ring.
We have not yet received an answer.
We do know Rhymes was ordered to pay his victims about $30,000 in restitution. Because he failed to pay according to his probation orders, his wages were garnished from MPS.