SC teacher’s aid arrested after assaulting special needs student, police say
A teacher’s aid at a Sumter County high school was arrested after investigators reviewed a video that showed the woman aggressively assaulting a special needs student, according to the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office.
Marceeda Walker, 49, was charged with third degree assault and battery following a social media firestorm, where Derrick Hastie, of Sumter, shared details in a Facebook post on Oct. 14, detailing how Walker attacked his son — Stylez Hastie, 14 — who has autism. The assault occurred in the cafeteria of Lakewood High School on Sept. 10, but Derrick Hastie and the child’s mother, Shenise Spann, were never notified of the incident by the school. They instead learned of the assault from a witness and relative who was also a student at Lakewood.
“On the video, we saw [Walker] choking [Styelz] by the back of the neck as she continued to push him down to the ground,” Derrick Hastie told The State. “My son seemed to not know what was going on, and so he began jerking away, which caused [Walker] to yank him up by the neck and push him back down to the ground, almost into a trash can. [Walker] did this about three times.”
Stylez, who’s a freshman at Lakewood, is non-verbal and can barely walk due to autism. The 14-year-old also still wears pull-ups to school, Derrick Hastie said.
The school didn’t report the incident to the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office, as mandated by state law.
Following a request by The State, a spokesperson from the district said they first needed to clear their responses with their legal counsel.
On Sept. 12, Derrick Hastie and Spann confronted Lakewood’s principal, Maggie Wright, about the reported assault on Stylez, according to Derrick Hastie.
Wright told the parents she would review surveillance video footage from the day of the incident and get back with them, Derrick Hastie said.
After reviewing the footage, Wright called Derrick Hastie and Spann to notify them that Walker, who was a paraprofessional or teacher’s aide at the school, had been fired. However, Wright told the parents they could not see the video due to legal concerns, Derrick Hastie said.
Instead, Wright said the parents would soon be contacted by the school district’s attorney, according to Derrick Hastie.
A few days later the attorney called Derrick Hastie and Spann and immediately asked whether they were willing to accept a settlement offer, Derrick Hastie said, adding that the offer shocked them because they were only interested in seeing the video footage.
“We were not even thinking about suing, we just wanted to see what happened to our son,” Derrick Hastie said.
Derrick Hastie’s Facebook post came the same day he and Spann were finally permitted to watch the video on Oct. 14.
The post created a firestorm, generating over 1,000 comments and 5,000 shares that culminated in a community rally in Sumter on Oct. 15, where over 600 people attended, Derrick Hastie Said.
Sumter County School District Vice Chair Brian Alston said during the rally that he would be calling for an investigation by the board, according to a report by the Sumter Item.
The post also sparked an investigation into the matter by the Sumter County Sheriff’s Department, which resulted in Walker’s arrest Friday. The investigation remains ongoing.
Derrick Hastie said that he and Spann are very concerned as they don’t know how many other times his son may have been assaulted, because Stylez can’t speak.
“If something like this could happen in an open area like a cafeteria that has cameras, what’s happening in the classroom, that doesn’t have cameras, when that door shuts?” he said.
Walker was booked into the Sumter County Detention Center and was later granted a $2,125 cash bond on the condition that she doesn’t make contact with the victim or his family, according to court records.
Derick Hastie said he and Spann have now retained legal counsel and plan to pursue a civil lawsuit against the school.
Anothet recent assault in Sumter schools
Beyond reports of Sytlez’s assault on Tuesday, another assault was reported at Bates Middle School, also in Sumter County on Oct. 16.
There, Dorthy Johnson, 48 — the school’s custodian — was arrested and charged with second degree assault and battery after a student reported he’s been assaulted by Johnson as the student was in a hallway drinking water from a fountain.
This story was originally published October 18, 2025 at 1:48 PM.
