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Parents Sue A Mississippi School District After Teacher Suggested Hanging Their Son

Tony and Kayla Lindsey say they were offered "hush money" before filing the suit.

Parents of a former student in Mississippi filed a lawsuit against the school district on Thursday after a white substitute teacher allegedly made a comment about their son being hanged.

Tony and Kayla Lindsey, whose son graduated from a school in Rankin County, said the incident occurred back in April, reported the Associated Press. 

According to the family, their son threatened to hit a white student during an argument. Then, the substitute teacher, identified as Jane Pinnix, allegedly told the white student to let the Black student hit him “so that they could hang him.”                                                   

"Everybody in the class gasped when she said it," Carlos Moore (pictured above), the Lindseys' lawyer, told the Associated Press. "They knew exactly what she meant."

Although Moore said a student reportedly recorded the incident on video, they were unable to obtain the footage. When the Lindseys' son attempted to return to the school to try to get the video, he was suspended for three days.

The lawsuit was filed against the Rankin County school district, contract labor provider Kelly Services and Pinnix. According to the suit, the district suspended Pinnix, an employee of Kelly Services, for two days.

"She was trying to discipline an unruly child and maybe she didn't use the best choice of words, but there was no racial intent or racial overtone," said Fred Harrell Jr., a district lawyer. Harrell also said the suit doesn’t correctly describe the teacher’s comments and the suit was "frivolous."

Moore said the family had been offered "hush money" of $5,000 but had rejected it. Harrell said the district's insurer may have made such an offer.

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