Teenager will be charged as an adult after slapping woman teacher twice across the face while hurling profanities including 'b****' and 'n*****'

A teen who allegedly attacked two of his school teachers is being charged as an adult, prosecutors confirmed - after one of the suspected strikes went viral.

Aquavis Hickman, a 17-year-old student at Parkland High School in North Carolina, was indicted on the assault and kidnapping charges last week, Forsyth County District Attorneys said.

He is being charged as an adult in the two separate attacks, one of which was filmed. 

In the first, un-filmed incident, he allegedly attacked a male teacher at the school on February, and in their statement, prosecutors said he did not act alone. 

Then, last month, officials claimed the teen walked up to a female teacher and smacked her twice, with footage of the alleged attack later circulating on social media. It has yet to be released by cops.

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'That video went viral nationwide and it put us on the map in a negative manner,' Winston-Salem Police Chief William Penn told Fox affiliate WGHP-TV News during a joint press conference following Hickman's arrest Thursday.   

'I am so glad today that the rest of the nation will also hear that we do not tolerate that in Winston-Salem and Forsyth County.'

Also in attendance were Forsyth County District Attorney Jim O'Neill and Forsyth County Sheriff Bobby Kimbrough, at a meeting intended to serve as the first step in taking a stand against violence against educators, organizers said.

'Our message to our community is simple,' O'Neill told reporters around a crowded podium.

'We stand with the teachers. We will fight to protect those teachers. And if you lay a hand on a teacher and assault a teacher, you can expect that the punishment will be swift and severe. Promise made. Promise kept.'

As promised,  the case against Hickman was transferred from juvenile to Superior Court last week, where a grand jury elected to indict him.

The decision comes as officials like O'Neill said Hickman could avoid an adult criminal case due to the charges only amounting to a misdemeanor.

That was before Hickman was hit with felony second-degree kidnapping charges for the April incident, for 'unlawfully confining and restraining [the female victim] without her consent for the purpose of terrorizing her', O'Neill revealed Friday.

He further revealed how Hickman - who is seen slapping the middle-aged teacher in the face while she is sat at her desk - was also indicted on that same bill for assault on a government official, and communicating threats.

Video of the April 15 attack appears to show Hickman smacking the unnamed woman twice.     

'Do you think that affected me in any way?' the teacher can be heard asking after the first strike, spurring Hickman to ask: 'Want me to hit you again?'. 

'I don't want it,' the teacher says, as Hickman stands up over her. She is then struck again. This time though, the hit is so forceful, the woman's glasses are seen flying off her face.

As this is occurring, the teenager confirmed to be the student suspect is heard trudging on with his profanity-filled rant. 

'Ain't nobody even coming,' he tells the cowering woman. You got slapped. B***h, go back to teaching.'

O'Neill also hinted at how the student did not act alone during the February incident, which took place on February 1 and was not filmed.

Prosecutors said it also happened on school grounds, and involved a male teacher. That incident saw Hickman also slapped with second-degree kidnapping charges, as well as allegations of misdemeanor riot

That's because Hickman gathered with at least two others and "engaged in a public disturbance' before the attack, officials said Thursday.

He went on to also kidnap the second teacher in this case, attempting to fight him. 

'This disorderly and violent conduct created a clear and present danger of injury to the victim in this case,' O'Neill said.

'Sheriff Kimbrough, Chief Penn and myself made a promise to this community that we would not tolerate any assaults on our teachers, plain and simple.'

Citing statistics showing a rise in student attacks on educators in the county over the years, O'Neill warned that students will face similar consequences in the future, comparing the severity of striking schoolteachers to assaulting a police officer. 

'We're here to see that you're never assaulted when you go to work,' he told those crowded at the press conferences..

'We want to remind people if you put your hands on a teacher, it's the same as if you put your hands on one of these officers.

'The district attorney's office will bring the weight of this office down on top of you, so you should have fear of consequences.'

School district officials declined to comment on the case or Hickman's arrest. A trial date was not announced.

Hickman's arrest comes just weeks after a former PHS substitute teacher came forward to claim he was also assaulted by the student, back when he was subbing for a biology class in early May 2023.

'I was appalled,' Larry Edwards, who spent some 40 years of his career teaching at PHS before retiring and becoming a sub, told WGHP-TV News on APril 22.

“I walked up to the desk to get my phone to call the office, and he mockingly walked behind me, and I happened to turn around and see him, and the students started laughing,” Edwards said. “The next thing I know, he had taken his hand and smushed my head, and everybody started laughing, and he ran out.”

Edwards added how he was shocked to learn he knew the student responsible for the April attack after seeing Hickman's face plastered all over the news.

He added that was disappointed after learning of the charges, after he said officials at the downtown juvenile office sent him a letter about the incident last year, but not much else.

'I’ve just sort of felt the incident with me … was sort of swept under the rug.'

Edward's name is not mentioned in the county's two cases against Hickman. Neither were the two victims. Investigations into both incidents remain ongoing, police said.