Name: NC deputy injured breaking up fight between students: Live update from Lenoir County Sheriff's Office
Uploaded: 2024-03-29T10:59:00-0400
Duration: 851755
Description: The Lenoir County Sheriff's Office is holding a press conference after a deputy received 18 staples from breaking up a fight between students on a bus Wednesday.

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The Lenoir County Sheriff's Office is holding a press conference after a deputy received 18 staples from breaking up a fight between students on a bus Wednesday. 

<p>You need to be right here, sir. It's my seat. My coffee cup is not a picture of it probably has NC state on it, I'm sure. Right. So were you, um, were you, are you going to get up here, Michelle? Ok. We got everybody ready. Yeah, yeah, you guys will be tight. I'm gonna get out of the frame as soon as I. Ok. I'm Brian Hanks. I'm the public information officer for Lenoir County. Uh, we appreciate the media coming out here today for this press conference. Uh, I have with me, uh, Sheriff Jackie Rogers and Deputy Christopher Little. They're gonna be, uh, talking about the incident that happened on Wednesday just, uh, I can't even believe it's just a little bit over 48 hours ago. So, uh, first I'm gonna introduce, uh, sheriff Jackie Rogers. Thank you for coming. I'm Jackie Rogers, the sheriff of Lenoir County. Um, on Wednesday about 8:30 a.m. we had an incident of the, uh, Lenoir County Learning Academy where, um, they had a fight on a school bus. Um, deputy little tried to intervene. Um, he was assaulted and sustained about 18 staples to the back of his head. Um, Deputy Little has been with the sheriff's office for about two years. Um, he's a great deputy. He just recently got promoted. Um, he's in charge of our recruiting and our governors. I would set the program. Um, I'll take any questions if you have any questions at this point for me and then I'll introduce Deputy Little. Can you talk about the charges that the students received and how you got to them? Um, the charges were we consulted with the District Attorney's office and, um, they, they were both charged with assault, inflicting serious injury on a law enforcement officer, um, resisting arrest and damage to county property. Um, and that's basically how we got there. Can you describe some of that damage? Um, it was damage to the uniform. Um, he had, they had to cut the uniform and stuff off. That was the only damage to the county property and this has been a teacher, bus driver or another student trying to break up the fire. Are you guys implementing new policies and incidents like this? The learning academy is, um, they hired deputies off duty, they're off duty. They don't have a, a full time SRO they have off duty deputies that work different days. Um, the deputy was on the scene at the time he was there. The Children are not allowed to get off the bus until the deputy is standing outside the bus. So the deputy was outside the bus, the fight occurred. Deputy little ran on the bus and tried to intervene and that's when he was assaulted. Um, what the age is it? These weapons, uh, no weapons were involved. The ages of the juveniles were 12 and 16. And so it was just like fists hands. Yes, ma'am. And last question, are you going to do anything different? Going forward? Um, we're looking at trying to, uh, do some different stuff on the school buses and things like that, but basically it was a, um, it was a single incident. We hadn't had a problem like that this year or in the past because early training gets involved with, you know, to do this for the schools. Um, we have not spoken with the school systems about that. Um, but we will be in conversation about things like that. I see a Facebook comment about, um, this specific school has kids that struggle with special needs or mentally and emotionally for these students in any special program. Um, I'll let Deputy Little. Deputy Little has got a, um, he, he works there quite a bit and I'll let him discuss that. I think he wants to discuss things like that. Um, this is Deputy Chris Little. Um, hi, I'm, uh, Chris Low. I'm a deputy with the Lenoir County Sheriff's office. Um, I don't know how you guys would like me to begin on this. Do you wanna start by maybe just walking through the, that day if that's ok with you. Oh, that's completely fine, man. Um So at about 830 that morning while we were getting kids off of our first school bus at the uh learning academy. Um when I observed a fight starting on the bus, uh I answered the bus, uh yelled at them to uh break it up, try to break up the fight at which time neither of the uh students while I listen, due to the, uh, punches and kicks being thrown. Uh, at that point, I went ahead and grabbed both of the kids and tried to put them into a seat. Um One of the, uh juveniles was able to kick off the side of the bus and threw us all back onto the, uh, other side, um, where I, uh received a laceration to the back of my head. Um The fight still continued. We had a, uh another student or one of the original two students jump on top, um, and begin punching both the, uh other juvenile involved in myself. Uh I got up was able to get between them. Uh I believe I had to break up this fight about 34 times, uh, before it was all set and done. Um That's essentially the, uh fight itself. It was a pretty, um, I would say probably 34 minutes we had on scene. And so you said you guys were kind of going from left to right from one side of the bus to the other. So did you hit your head on like the back of the bus or was it like where you hit? So when I had the uh student trying to, uh, keep them in the seat, the student was able to use their legs and kick off the one side of the bus. It sent all three of us flying to the other side. Um, I was on bottom because I had uh hold on both of the students and my head went into the window, uh the meadow window frame. Um And that's how the uh injury was a man. According to the press release, we saw that neither of the Children sustained injuries. How do you feel knowing that you did your job and were able to break up the fight without causing them injury? So, working at the Learning Academy, um we have a lot of great students at the Learning Academy. We have a lot of students that are in there for different reasons, but we always want to try to break up uh altercations and deal with issues. Uh, a as kindly as we can. Um No punches were thrown by myself or any other deputies. Uh We try to use uh restraining tactics and to break up these fights because at the end of the day, we have a lot of students in there for um different reasons. Um I'm happy that I was the only one to sustain injuries and that none of my students sustained any injuries during this incident. Um And uh still planning on working, I learned academy a lot. I, I love my kids over there and will continue to work there. Yeah, I was just uh I got, and I want to come back to work. So while I was in the hospital, uh I was getting texts from teachers at the school and uh I, I have a really good relationship with a lot of our kids there and the school was, uh, very upset. So I, uh, went back to the, uh, school and, um, I ended up spending about 30 minutes there and the reception there is just great. Well, it's like any of our other, uh, public schools in the North County, um, got torn by students immediately. Staff, it's all there. Uh, and I think that goes to show the impact that having the Sheriff's office at the Learning Academy, uh, does, I mean, it's, it's an incredible opportunity to reach out and, um, get to know our youth and b and to, uh, build really lasting bonds and, uh, establish trust between law enforcement and this generation. Coming up. When I talked to Sheriff Rogers yesterday, he said that the kids warmed you and were hugging on you. Can you tell me a little bit about what the kids were saying to you? Um, so a lot of them want to know exactly who did it. Um, but a lot of them were happy to see me up on my feet. Um, back at the school, they were asking when I was going to be coming back to the school. Um, the, uh, the staff and the kids there are uh amazing. They worked extremely, extremely hard to help these kids who are often in more difficult situations than in, than a lot of our other students in the school system. So I have a lot of respect for the staff that works there was happy with. And I know, I know, I, I let the, she's, uh, uh, of that I need to go to the hospital. And, uh, so that would be a question I believe for Sheriff Rogers when he comes back up there in the, what's something that you would like to see? Uh, so I'm going to leave that up to the uh criminal justice system. Um, at this point, um, there does have to be accountability for actions. That is something that does have to be taught through this generation. Um, while we try to go in and we try to, uh, while we try to, so these issues, um, as low impact as possible when they're not listening and it does get to this point. Um, there does have to be some repercussions for actions. Otherwise this behavior is going to continue into adulthood and continue to be an issue. Um The entire idea of learning academy is to help these students, one graduate, but two emotionally grow and be able to uh move forward in life just gonna go back one step while it was happening to you. You were, you know, in it. How did you feel? Did you, were you scared? And how do you feel now going back into the school? Uh So I can't really say that I was uh scared during the incident. Um I kept moving through uh and um was able to get it, uh was able to get it uh separated. Um I was glad when other deputy stepped on the bus. Um but uh going back to the school, uh I'm excited to go back to school. Um Like I said, I, this is something that we volunteer for on a part time basis at the uh learning academy. Um But they have several like myself who come on a pretty consistent basis, uh who are able to form these relationships with the kids and form kind of these mentorship roles. And I'm excited to get back into the learning academy. And how long have you been with the school? And um how long have you? I believe I've been working there about a year and a half all through last year and um through this year, I believe we're at right about the halfway point and real quick. Um Can you let us know I'd like that you have a compassion for them. You mentioned some of them have challenges. What are some of those difficulties and challenges you're speaking of? So, we have some emotional uh some emotional disabilities that are uh in the school. We have uh some ec kids. It's really a variety of different issues within the school. We also have a lot of kids who have been involved in fights and um brought weapons to school and this is the school that we go to uh give them a second chance, um, to try to have more of that mentorship role and a little bit closer supervision. Uh, yes, there is. Um, once I go through the program, the school really has a better answer on how that process works. But yes. Ok. Think you got any more questions. Uh, sheriff, did you want to address the, uh, the, uh, the 16 year old is still in custody? Uh, he went to a secure custody, uh, facility. Uh, the 12 year old was released to the mother that same day and you guys have spoken to both of the parents. Yes. Well, we, we have not, the deputies that charge them has spoken to the parents and they're aware of everything I heard. Um, we will this up to the judicial system. Um, they'll go, they'll have a court date and they'll go to court and that's, that's their decision to make. Ok, thank you guys so very much. Thank you. Can, we also get a shot at the back of your head? I don't know how to ask that. That's a great, that's a great question. Do you mind? Do you mind it? Yes. No, this is worse. Looking at the cameras. It's much prettier. Are we good? Thank you guys so much. Thank you. You're PJ. Thank you. Yes, sir. Thank you. Thank you so much. Great job. Great job. Yes, that was great.</p>

NC deputy injured breaking up fight between students: Live update from Lenoir County Sheriff's Office

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Boviet Solar plans to spend $294 million by the end of 2027 as part of the deal, state economic development officials said Friday. Commerce officials approved an incentives package worth up to $16.4 million.

<p>To, to all of you and we bring you greetings. I would like to also extend gratitude to other elected officials who are joining us today. If you'll please stand. Thank you. I want to also start by expressing how thrilled we are to have you here today. We are proud of our city here in Greenville. And I think that pride is evident in this room today and why wouldn't we be proud? Greenville is a thriving hub of, of eastern North Carolina. We have a growing population, a diverse based manufacturing manufacturers, top notch educational institutions, state of the art, medical facilities and vibrant art and entertainment scenes. The people in Greenville are as friendly and as talented as they come. We all work well together and that is a tremendous, tremendous key to progress. There are so many reasons to be proud of Greenville and today I'm thrilled that our city is getting even better with all of that being said, I would like to introduce to you a Greenville native and Chief Deputy Secretary of Commerce Jordan Richard. Well, thank you so much. Uh Mayor Pro Daniels. Uh it is a beautiful day and uh uh especially great day to be back home in Greenville, North Carolina. Uh So, on behalf of uh our North Carolina Secretary of Commerce Michelle Baker Sanders, uh Good afternoon. Uh Today really is not only the celebration of an incredible partnership uh with the city of Greenville, Pitt County, uh the Greenville Eastern North Carolina Alliance, the Department of Commerce, our, our partners across the state. Uh But it's also calls to celebrate uh some really exciting news and the first uh such announcement this year in Pitt County across the state in North Carolina, we are uh already ahead of our pace from last year. Uh Having a wonderful year in terms of economic development. Today is a wonderful announcement of that. Since January across the state, we've announced uh 39 projects and this will be our 40th, more than 3600 jobs across North Carolina and over $2.5 billion in economic development investment statewide. And today's news uh is also great as we celebrate the 250th anniversary of Greenville, North Carolina. Over those 250 years, we've seen Greenville change and evolve and the evolution of Greenville as a community is parallel to what we've seen across the state from an economy once dependent on agriculture and tobacco. Pitt County and Greenville is transformed into an economy that's supported by medicine uh and advanced manufacturing and clean energy jobs like we're here to talk about today. Uh having grown up here and watch that evolution and watch Downtown and Dickinson Avenue evolve and having gone to school across the street at CMXS Middle School, it's especially gratifying to be back and to be working on wonderful announcements like this. Uh And today, it's also an incredible honor to introduce uh someone who I've had the great pleasure of working for in Raleigh for the past 7.5 years. Uh He's been working to build a stronger North Carolina uh where everyone has as an opportunity to live in safe communities, get a quality education, uh have good access to great jobs and great health care. Uh And where everybody has a chance to live lives of purpose and abundance. And today he'll share with the Greenville community some outstanding news. Uh that'll help get us closer to North Carolina, North Carolina. That's more diverse, more inclusive works uh even more for all the people of this great state. Uh So it's my honor now to introduce to you the 75th governor of North Carolina Roy Cooper. Thank you so much, Greenville, aren't you proud of Jordan Witcher? Let me just say, Chief Deputy Secretary of the Department of Commerce. And uh you might notice that I have a lot of people in my administration who are from Eastern North Carolina. It's because I grew up here and I know the kind of people that they are. So I am so happy to be here. With you today, seeing so many friends and familiar faces uh and to celebrate what's gonna happen today. Uh Thank you Marquita for being here, Representative reader. Thank you for, for, for being here. Thank you representative for you. Uh Thank you, appreciate all of you guys candy. Thank you for coming. Very grateful for you coming and being part of this. Um II, I wanna thank Mayor Pro TEM Daniels and say thank you very much for your hard work here. But it's great to join with you today with an outstanding announcement for the city of Greenville, Pitt County, eastern North Carolina and I am our entire state. I am so proud to announce that Bovi at Solar, an international renewable energy company has selected North Carolina for its first North American solar panel manufacturing facility that will create 900 jobs and invest $294 million right here in Greenville, North Carolina. Our economists predict that this project will lift North Carolina's economy by more than $2.9 billion over the next 12 years. This economic development. When shows us how teamwork, teamwork and that's a fitting word here in front of Dowdy Ficklin Stadium, teamwork and our amazing workforce. Keep bringing advanced manufacturing jobs to our state here in Pitt County. You have a great legacy of manufacturing, making everything from life saving pharmaceuticals to packaging personal care products and now comes important components for clean renewable energy. North Carolina is becoming an epicenter for clean energy that's putting money in the pockets of North Carolina families and small businesses. And as we've learned in North Carolina the last few years, a clean energy economy is a strong economy, providing American security. North Carolina is a leader in that 19 billion in capital investments and nearly 16,000 good paying manufacturing jobs created here since 2021 with the fourth largest producer of solar energy in the country. And with our bipartisan clean power plan that will get us producing zero emission clean energy by 2050. That means a lot more solar panels need to be made right here in North Carolina. This announcement means that they're going to be made right here. And North Carolina's emergence as a clean energy leader has fueled our growth and helped set us apart as the number one state to do business in the country for two years in a row, we all get to celebrate that recognition and much of the credit goes to our well trained, dedicated and diverse workforce, the people of North Carolina, they make up the best workforce in the country. And Bovi at solar is gonna find out about that. And our university Chancellor Rogers, thank you for hosting this today. Our university and community college systems including East Carolina Pitt community College and our research institutions and workforce partnerships help North Carolina stay first in talent coupled with our central east location, East coast location and includes easy access to transportation infrastructure by land, plain sea. And of course our excellent quality of life. North Carolina continues to be a top choice and we don't take opportunities and announcement like these for granted because we know that companies like Bovi at solar can choose to locate anywhere in the world, but they chose us. And that's why we must continue to increase our investments in education, workforce training in our public schools and in early childhood education, that is absolutely critical. This announcement is the result of strong collaboration by company executives, elected officials across both aisles and economic development professionals. In addition to Secretary Sanders and the Department of Commerce, I'd like to thank our Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina that works so well led by Chris Chung works so well with our Department of Commerce, our North Carolina General Assembly. Those members are here today, our Golden Leaf Foundation, our Greenville Eastern North Carolina Alliance, Pitt County Electric Cities, Greenville Utilities Commission and the city of Greenville. At this time, I would like to, to welcome to the podium, the CEO of Bovi at Solar, Jimmy Shea. And I'd like to present him with a gift on behalf of the people of North Carolina, Jimmy. If you could come forward, Jimmy, this is a piece of pottery made one of our, by one of our famous artists uh Ben Owen. And on it has the great seal of the state of North Carolina and it has a part of it. Our, our motto, Si Quam Beri, which means to be rather than to seem, we want you to know in North Carolina we are who we say we are. And we look forward to this partnership for years and decades to come. Congratulations. Thank you for being here. Uh This is uh cup of the Chinese tea. Oh, outstanding. Thank you very much. Well, on behalf of the people of North Carolina, we accept this gift and hopefully we can sit and drink some tea and talk about the great success of this company. Thank you, Jimmy very much. Thank you. Mm Let uh let me begin to say uh by saying, thank you to the press, our partners and everyone who took the time to join us at today's event. Uh We are around to be receiving this investment grade and uh we are excited uh for how it uh will enable us to get our first us solar panel manufacturer facility up to and running and uh created, created uh economic uh uh our opportunities for the pul air. Yeah, for those who uh who aren't familiar. Let me introduce the about the poet founded in 2013 poet, solar head office in Unite, unite us Germany and our group uh headquarters in Vietnam. We have a proven track record of successful working with many of the industrial leading players. And our PV module are known for their power performance. And quality. This is evident because Bo has uh maintained its uh pos uh position at a Bloomberg new energy financing T one solar module manufacturers. Since 2017, we have been written at the top performance on people's PV module reliability uh score card since 2019 BB. Successfully completed. And in the independent e estimate of bo uh uh water solar manufacturers facility in 2022 the US uh solar industrial had been in K for water solar since we first uh entered the uh in 20 17 as of 2020 f uh three world solar PV sales and the PV models manufacturing capacity is more than three gigawatts and it's a shar a total of more than 6.6 gigawatt since uh in fabric, manually operating in us. Marketing. We are dedicated uh to helping to build uh American solar manufacturers uh with our new facility and uh filing, you know, cutting power in uh petit county, North Carolina and the, the natural. Uh let me tell you more about our plan for the manufacture plant. First one of the project, we use the building to manufacture our solar modules per to will including contracting uh start uh start off the art 500,000 to 60 thou uh 100,000 square foot factory on 34 acres to manufacture of PV cells which are used to build the solar panels. The location is expected to output the two gigawatts of solar and the two gigawatt uh PV cells since the future, uh uh will help bring our top performance PV modules to our variable clients to foster stronger connections with the independent uh power products. EP CS product uh developers, solar in, in installs and the contractors. We will have product uh they need uh in increase the deve deployment of uh uh U utilities, commercial industrial and uh dangerous solar project. We will require a strong workforce to product pro produce these solar panels so we will hearing about uh 900 employees uh over the next five years, job are expect expected to increase engineers, product workers. And so on, on behalf of uh B solar, I would like to thank everyone in involved in making this uh weight of product uh possible. The first is the governor uh Rio Cooper and uh and the secu uh secondary security Sanders and the North Korea development of the commerce tr uh territory uh D feature and the e economy uh economic uh developer partners of the North Korea Carolina, North Carolina General and Een North Korea uh communi Community College System, Go Goen Le found uh Foundation, Yanda down uh and the team at the Greenville East, North Carolina Islands, Kelly Andrew and the Peter County developer office, as well as the Pitter county government, Kathy Howard and the leadership team at the Greenville Utilities Commission City of the Greenville Electricity of the North Carolina and our advances today, our dream are coming true. We are upon the to begin pro product in our pe models in the US, bring our manufacturers exciting excellence to our most important uh solar market, creating jobs and the ma uh making up in impact. Solar energy in the United States is a bombing driving by its many benefits. Solar is an economic engine, a source of clean cheap um produce energy set and make a electricity affordable for customers and improve the air quality for health uh communities. We are surrendered to help uh future wills rep reputation for the green. I I can economic and uh manufacturing. We look forward to working with all of our partners, our path towards a cleaning future in the United. Thank you. I wanted to make sure I recognized Senator Candy Smith and Representative Glory Steam Brown and Representative reader, the legislature helped us a lot with this too. So, thank you very much for. Ok. Mhm. Good afternoon. My name is Anne Lord Huggins and I serve on the Pitt County Board of Commissioners. In conclusion of this momentous announcement, we must emphasize how truly honored we are that Pitt County was chosen over the many communities that were under consideration for this project. We are not only announcing the selection of Pitt County for a new industry that will bring strong economic growth to our community, but we are celebrating the collaboration that have developed and will continue to develop among Pitt County. Our partners and this esteem company. This announcement is the culmination of shared vision. This company's vision for its first us manufacturing facility in a business friendly asset, rich and welcoming community and Pitt County's vision for growth through strong industry partners that create highly skilled high paying jobs for our citizens. This vision will come to life in the, in the gr in the green corporate park and we look forward to our continued partnership to make this project successful. Beyond expectation. On behalf of Pitt County and the Board of commissioners, we extend our appreciation to each and every individual who has contributed their time, expertise and passion to make today possible. Most importantly, we extend heartfelt thanks to Bovier Sola for choosing us to communicate, to commemorate. Excuse me, this day, we would like to present a sculpture crafted by local artist Jordan Pera titled Connecting the Links May this day be a continuation of connections that will ensure your continued success. We are honored to be your partners and your chosen community. Welcome to your new home, Pitt County. OK. And I accept this on behalf of pick him and now and welcome to the podium, Thomas Taft Junior Board of Directors of Greenville, NENC Alliance for a toast. That's good. Not a force of guys. II, I had a prepared speech, but I'm gonna take this in a slightly different direction because II I, everyone has, has talked so much about the relationships and everything else. That got us to this point. But all I can say on behalf of Pitt County and on behalf of the Greenville NC Alliance is we won. We have won, we have beat out other communities, phobia technologies to come here. It's everything that we've all been working for, for years and years and years. I look at so many of you out here that uh were participants in that. And again, all I want to say is we won. Pitt County won North Carolina won. Thank you, Governor Cooper. Cheers, everyone. Cheers. Thank you. I don't mind. That's fine. No, no, no, no. Well, I would just add that this is the single largest jobs announcement in Pitt County's history. Uh, I don't believe we've had a governor here in, uh, about 15 years to announce anything, uh, economic development, a new, a new, uh, I'm sorry. But, uh, but either way we're proud to have you here. We're proud to have you guys here. Cheers again to a victory for Pitt County here here. Thank you. Thank you very much. Ok. Thank you so much. I'm ready to provide. Yeah. Yeah. Ok. They see. All right. Right. Yes. That's first. He said going across the way, come back in time.</p>

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