Watch: Video shows moment Florida parent strikes school bus aid over son's suspension 

On Tuesday, May 9, Fox News released footage of an altercation on a Florida school bus. According to the publication, the suspected assailant, 50-year-old Florida parent Esdra Burges-Cruz, struck a school employee after his son was banned from riding the school bus for an unspecified reason. The father is accused of three crimes, including burglary, violence, battery, and a misdemeanor for disrupting a school function.

Trigger warning: This article concerns violence, the reader's discretion is advised

In the footage, the father can be seen aggressively shouting at the school employee. During the argument, he appears to have slapped the school aid at least once. The Marion County Sheriff's Office reported that the suspect threatened the employee. The school administration confirmed that the bus was delayed due to the fight.

According to the arrest report, the 50-year-old suspect claimed that he did not assault the employee. He told reporters from Wesh that he had instead grabbed a document from the school employee's hand. Burges-Cruz has no criminal record before the incident. The case is currently ongoing.

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Violence in Florida Schools

According to NBC Miami, social media has reportedly led to a spike in violence in schools. The revelation emerged after a February case in which a 9-year-old girl was brutally assaulted by multiple teens in another incident of violence on a Florida school bus.

Edwin Lopez, The Police Chief of Dorel, said videos of fights and assaults often fuelled future incidents.

Lopez said:

“It’s definitely impacting and many times contributing to some of the issues we’re having on a criminal basis in schools and in the community as a whole."

Frank Zenere, a child psychologist, echoed these sentiments.

He said:

“Absolutely, it’s that perpetual reminder of what has occurred that’s replayed thousands of times across the community, and that just kind of cements in the psyche of these students that aggression is acceptable in certain situations and clearly it’s not."

Zenere said that schools needed to encourage children to prevent fights. Instead, they tend to take out their cell phones and film altercations. This often leads to those involved in the fight escalating the violence, as they know the footage may be spread.

He said:

“And students who would normally not engage in that process individually, as part of a larger group, do things they never thought they would do."

An anonymous Florida school district teacher spoke about another factor contributing to the rise in violence in an interview with Fox News. He told reporters that parents were reluctant to hold their children accountable for their actions. As seen in the Marion County incident, instead of punishing his child for being suspended, the suspect assaulted the teacher's assistant for reprimanding him.