Inglewood teacher's aide accused of pulling knife out on student in schoolyard

INGLEWOOD, Calif. (KABC) -- An Inglewood middle-school student says he was left traumatized after a teacher's aide pulled out a knife on him while on the school playground.

Ricardo Sandoval says he is still nervous over what he says happened to him on the playground at Beulah Payne STEAM Academy Monday afternoon.

It was during physical education, he says, that a ball accidentally hit a teacher's aide in the head at the Inglewood school. The 7th grader says when he went to get the ball back, another teacher's aide confronted him.

Ricardo told us the aide said "'Give me the ball' and I said 'Why? We're playing.' I told him it was an accident, we didn't mean to. And that's when he pulled out the pocket knife and said I'm going to pop it."

The 12-year-old told us he went to a security guard on campus to tell him what happened. And then he called his father.

Raul Sandoval says his son "called me up that he was going to get stabbed, this and that. So I didn't know what was going on so I just left work and went to the school. And all last night he couldn't sleep. He was tossing and turning saying 'Dad can I hug you.' Like he didn't let me sleep either all night long."

The district says after an investigation, the teacher's aide was "apprehended." It's not clear if that means he may face criminal charges.

In a written statement to Eyewitness News, a spokesperson for the Inglewood Unified School district says: "Yesterday the District was made aware of an incident that occurred at Beulah-Payne. A contracted special education aide, not employed by the District, was involved in a confrontation with a student. In response to this alarming situation, both our Inglewood School Police and the Inglewood Police department were contacted. After a thorough investigation the aide was apprehended."

The Sandovals say the Inglewood Police Department has offered the services of a therapist to help Ricardo deal with what happened to him.