EAST NEW YORK — Investigators arrested a Brooklyn principal Tuesday on charges he kicked and beat a 7-year-old student inside his school — after his mom says she had to fight police to take the case seriously.
Principal Machael Spencer-Edwards, 42, of P.S. 202 Ernest S. Jenkyns, was arrested at the NYPD's Child Abuse Squad offices in Fort Greene Tuesday, more than a month after police said he assaulted second-grader Hasheem Welch at the school on March 13, on charges of assault and acting in a manner injurious to a child, police said. He was arraigned Tuesday and released, officials said.
"He smacked me. He told me he knocked kids out. I wanted to call my mom, but they didn't let me," Hasheem told DNAinfo New York at his home on Wednesday.
"He hit me hard and I was crying," Hasheem said.
Police said they took a month to bring charges in the case because they were investigating the incident.
But mom Shema McKenzie said police repeatedly refused to investigate the incident, which she said began about 10:30 a.m. that day when Spencer-Edwards approached the boy in the cafeteria and demanded he push the hoodie on his sweatshirt off of his head.
Hasheem told his mom he forgot to follow the principal's instructions, and when he saw Spencer-Edwards approach him again, he ran away, with the principal in pursuit. Spencer-Edwards called for cafeteria staff to block the boy's exit, sparking a scuffle in which Hasheem admitted that he hit the staffer.
Spencer-Edwards then took Hasheem into a stairwell where he kicked and smacked the boy as he lay helpless on the ground, McKenzie said.
Hasheem returned home after school about 6 p.m. that night and told McKenzie, "Mommy, I don't want to go back to school," according to the mother.
"Mr. [Spencer-Edwards] smacked me in my face and kicked me in my stomach," the boy told her, she said.
She noticed bruises on the stomach and face of her boy, and photographed them, she said.
“I just kept asking him, ‘Are you sure that Mr. [Spencer-Edwards] is the one who did this to you?’ He kept saying, ‘Yes, yes, yes.’ I said, ‘OK, you know this is very serious. This is nothing to play.’ And he said, ‘Yes, this is what Mr. Edwards did to me,'" McKenzie told DNAinfo at her family's East New York home on Wednesday.
She said called police, but they were initially skeptical of the boy's story, McKenzie said.
"They just stated there wasn't much they could do. It was a school matter and [there are] officers that deal with stuff like this with the kids and the school. They left and I wasn't satisfied with what they said so I called 911 again," the mother said.
"They sent another set of officers to my house. I explained to them what happened and they stated the same thing to me," McKenzie said.
Hasheem kept complaining about the pain from the attack so she asked police to call an ambulance to take him to Brookdale Hospital where doctors agreed that the boy had been attacked, McKenzie said.
"The doctors checked him and stated he got assaulted by somebody," McKenzie said.
But police still didn't believe him and came to interview him again with a sergeant, McKenzie said.
"They were just trying to play with my son's head and basically say my son was lying. They were asking him a whole bunch of questions and he just kept repeating the same story over and over to them," she said.
Two days after the attack, McKenzie, her husband and Hasheem went to confront Spencer-Edwards at the elementary school, she said.
"He was saying he didn't do that to Hasheem and while he was talking to us, he had his hands on the table and he was shaking. We felt he was lying," McKenzie said.
McKenzie, who has two other biological sons and two stepsons, pushed Hasheem to confront the principal, she said.
"[Hasheem] was scared. He kept looking at Mr. [Spencer-Edwards]. I kept telling him, 'Hasheem, you don't have to be scared to talk,'" McKenzie said.
"Hasheem said, 'You know you took me to the staircase and you smacked me and you kicked me.'"
"'Hasheem, I didn't do that to you,'" the principal countered according to the mom.
But the boy stood firm. "Yes, you did do that to me," he said according to his mother.
NYPD officials didn't immediately return a request for comment on McKenzie's accusations.
Edwards, who earns $139,901 a year, was removed from his post at P.S. 202 and assigned a job away from students, according to Michael Aciman, spokesman for the Department of Education.
"This alleged behavior is deeply disturbing and has no place in our schools," Aciman said.
"We are providing additional guidance and ongoing support fo the school community," he added.
Spencer-Edwards was previously in hot water after he barred students from attending a Valentine's Day celebration in the gym because they weren't dressed in pajamas, according to the New York Post.
"No pajamas, no party," he reportedly told students.
P.S. 202 enrolls 505 students from pre-Kindergarten to fifth grade, according to the school's website.
"We are aware of the case and following the developments as they proceed," said Clem Richardson, spokesman for the Council of School Supervisors, the union the represents school principals.
The school's superintendent sent out a letter to parents and students saying that Spencer-Edwards had been removed from his post pending the a result of an investigation and that Principal Ingrid Mason would take his spot in the interim.
Hasheem's mother was appalled by the attack.
"I never had a problem with him before. It's horrifying to me to know a principal would do that to a child," she said.
"Principals are supposed to protect children. He's not a good person and he shouldn't be working with children," McKenzie said.
