Why was Leilla Hamud arrested? Video of Winston Salem State University student getting handcuffed in class goes viral

Professor Cynthia Villagomez of Winston Salem State University had Leila Hamoud, one of her black students, arrested on Wednesday, December 14, on charges of misconduct. A video clip of the chaos inside the classroom while two police officers were handcuffing Leila was uploaded on social media and went viral.

After Leila was released, she hopped on Instagram live, explaining in detail what led to the incident. She revealed that the cause of the disagreement was an essay she wrote for her class finals and how her professor was in the wrong and got her arrested simply because Leila didn’t apologize to her.

In a video recorded by Leila’s friends, the university's campus officers are seen putting Leila in handcuffs while she can be seen breaking down in tears and telling her professor,

“I swear to God I hate you. You’re the worst teacher ever. You’re getting me taken out of here because I won’t apologize? You started yelling at me! You’re a terrible teacher.”

Other students in the classroom called their professor out for yelling at Leila first and letting the situation escalate for a trivial reason. They were also heard telling the officers that Leila wasn’t resisting. Leila told the officers that they were hurting her when they shoved her against a desk to put her in handcuffs.

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Winston Salem University professor and white police officer slammed by the detained student

Winston Salem University released a statement regarding the footage circulating on social media where they said:

"Regarding the incident, the university has a process we must follow when there is a reported disturbance anywhere on campus. We received a report that there was a significant commotion in Carolina Hall this morning, and as such, a WSSU employee nearby called for the assistance of law enforcement after they tried to de-escalate the situation."

However, Leila Hamoud, the student whom the police escorted out of the classroom in handcuffs, came online on Instagram to share the whole story.

She shared that the professor, Dr. Villagomez, gave them an assignment she worked on for two weeks before submitting it. But only six hours before their finals, the professor told her to redo the essay, claiming it was not done properly.

Leila refused to go through the essay again because it took her 14 days to complete. It was impractical of the professor to ask her to prepare that essay in only six hours. The next morning when they were in class and Leila was about to present a group assignment with her friends, a fire alarm went off.

The students got up from their seats to get out of the classroom when the professor stopped Leila and accused her of disobedience. When Leila tried to reason that it would not have been possible for her to prepare the whole essay in six hours, Dr. V yelled at her.

The situation escalated from there. Leila admitted on Instagram live about yelling back at her professor. However, she stood her ground and said she did nothing wrong.

Leila shared that when the two police officers arrived, the black officer tried his best to de-escalate the situation. But then the white officer told him to handcuff her. When asked what charges Leila was being handcuffed for, the officer told her it was for ‘RDO.’

She denied showing any physical resistance and expressed how traumatizing the whole incident was for her when the officers later informed Leila’s mother on a phone call that her daughter was being taken to jail. When asked again, the black officer told Leila they were only taking her to a detention center.

Later, Leila was taken to speak in front of a judge, who informed her that she was being charged with a second-degree misdemeanor and that her maximum penalty was 60 days. However, they let her go because Leila didn’t have any previous record. Leila Hamoud is scheduled to appear in court on January 25.

Meanwhile, Winston Salem State University claimed in its statement that it would reach out to both parties to hear their side and come to a decision. But Leila denied that the university reassured her of a fair judgment to take place.