Autistic 11-year-old Student Charged With Felony Battery

BAYOU GEORGE — The family of an autistic 11-year-old accused of assaulting school administrators said the boy was made an example of and the situation did not need to escalate to the extent it did.

Terrauce Jones was in assistant principal Harold Weaver’s office Tuesday discussing allegations he hit another student when he became upset and struck Weaver with a binder, principal Charlotte Marshall said.

Terrauce then left Weaver’s office and entered the main office, where Marshall met up with him and tried to calm the boy down.

Terrauce kicked at Marshall but missed, school officials said. Administrators were able to calm the student temporarily, but when he went to the cafeteria, Terrauce became upset again and threw a soda bottle at Marshall, according to a news release.

Authorities charged the 11-year-old with two counts of felony battery.

Francis Green, Terrauce’s grandmother and part-time caretaker, said she was very upset the incident led to felony charges and the situation should have been handled differently in a number of ways.

She said she doesn’t understand why no one at the school was able to restrain and control the child; he simply could have been put in a room until the family arrived.

“This could have been handled a whole lot different,” Green said. “I feel like (Marshall) changed how she would have reacted to demonstrate the need for SRD (school resource deputies).”

Superintendent Bill Husfelt, however, contends arresting the child was a last resort and school employees exhausted all possibilities before resorting to calling law enforcement.