SC school custodian charged with assaulting student, police said

A South Carolina school custodian was arrested Thursday after allegedly assaulting a middle school student who was drinking from a hallway water fountain, police said.

Dorothy Johnson, a 48-year-old building service worker at Bates Middle School in Sumter, was charged with second-degree assault and battery, Sumter police said in a news release.

She was arrested after the alleged victim brought the incident to the attention of school officials, who notified police.

Police said Johnson, a Sumter resident, was charged based on interviews and surveillance video of the alleged incident.

She was booked at the Sumter County Detention Center.

This story was originally published October 17, 2025 at 7:20 AM.