Video Shows Ex-Elementary School Principal Shoving Young Boy To the Ground

The former principal at Wolters Elementary School in California is facing child abuse charges after a video showed him violently shoving a young student with special needs.

Brian Vollhardt has been charged with misdemeanor child abuse and endangerment for shoving the ten-year-old boy to the ground in the cafeteria back in June.

The boy's guardian, Ann Frank, said Vollhardt claimed the boy assaulted him. The boy denied the claims, but it took three months for the school to show Frank the video of what transpired.

The surveillance camera footage from the cafeteria shows the boy pointing his finger in Vollhardt's face several times. At one point, the ten-year-old boy appeared to make contact with Vollhardt, who responded by violently shoving him to the floor.

"You cannot put force to these kids like that," Frank told KFSN. "My son is autistic. Any parents seeing this video, they know what I'm feeling right now. My son was pushed with force by this principal who was supposed to protect him."

While Vollhardt was placed on administrative leave and ultimately resigned as principal, he quickly got another job in another school district. That angered Frank, and she decided to hire a lawyer to file a lawsuit.

"He doesn't deserve to work in anybody else's school if he's working in one," Frank said. "He doesn't need to handle anybody else's kids. Who's to say how many other kids he's done this to?"

Officials with Vollhardt's new employer, Golden Plains Unified School District, said they did not see the video until it was released on Thursday (September 8) and have placed him on administrative leave.