Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Sunday that he pardoned a father who angrily protested a Loudoun County school’s handling of his daughter’s sexual assault.
Scott Smith, a plumber who stormed a rowdy school board meeting on June 22, 2021, allegedly unleashing a storm of profanities, was arrested and later convicted of disorderly conduct.
“I spoke to Mr. Smith on Friday and had the privilege of telling him that I will forgive him, and we did that on Friday,” Youngkin told “Fox News Sunday.”
“We corrected a mistake. He should never have been prosecuted here. This was a father who defended his daughter.”
Smith alleged that her daughter, then in ninth grade, was sexually assaulted by a biological boy wearing a skirt in the bathroom at Stone Bridge Middle School, and that the school informed her that it was conducting an internal investigation into the attack. .
But minutes before Smith’s arrest during the school board meeting, Loudoun County Public Schools Superintendent Scott Ziegler insisted that “we have no record of assaults occurring in our bathrooms,” the Daily Wire reported.
Ziegler also maintained that “the predatory transgender student or person simply does not exist,” a denial that infuriated Smith.
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced he has pardoned Scott Smith, the father who was arrested while protesting a Loudon County school’s handling of his daughter’s sexual assault. Daniel Sangjib Min/Richmond Times-Dispatch via AP
Smith was arrested and convicted of disorderly conduct after his outburst at a Loudoun County School Board meeting on June 22, 2021.REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
“Her daughter had been sexually assaulted in a school bathroom and no one was doing anything about it,” Youngkin said, arguing that the superintendent “covered it up.”
The debacle sparked national outrage, especially among conservatives. A second attack with the same suspect was reported later in 2021.
“Mr. Smith did what any father would do, what any father would do, which is defend his son,” Youngkin continued. “This was a serious miscarriage of justice.”
Smith alleged that her daughter was sexually assaulted in the bathroom at Stone Bridge High School by a biological student who was wearing a skirt.REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
Youngkin called Smith’s conviction a “serious miscarriage of justice.” 7News
That teenage suspect, who was charged with two counts of forcible sodomy, was found guilty on all charges.
The suspect was sentenced to a residential treatment center and placed on the sex offender registry.
The governor, who is now mobilizing for a competitive off-year state legislative election, has presented himself as a champion of parental rights in education.
Categories: Trending
Source: vtt.edu.vn