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Deputies: Video shows Marion County principal allegedly abusing student

MARION COUNTY, Fla. — The alleged abuse of a Marion County student by his school principal was caught on camera.

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Body-camera footage captured the moment 33-year-old Dontay Prophet was confronted about what deputies said happened inside a classroom.

Channel 9 obtained a video that shows a portion of that alleged abuse at Destiny Leadership Academy in Marion County.

Prophet’s arrest affidavit revealed more of what wasn’t released.

It states that Prophet grabbed the student’s inner thighs, got him into a “chokehold,” “wrapped his legs around the student,” and prevented him from leaving.

Read: Marion County principal accused of slapping boy, twisting his ankle & putting him into a chokehold

According to the arrest affidavit, the student even tried to hide under the table, and Prophet dragged him out.

“I couldn’t even bring myself to look at it,” said Dominic Hernandez, who planned on enrolling her brother at the Academy.

Dominic Hernandez passed by the academy. She was considering enrolling her brother.

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“I’m not going to do it,” Hernandez said. “It’s scary, you know; the principal, he’s an authority figure,”

Prophet claimed he was trying to stop the student from hurting himself.

Investigators said the video shows otherwise.

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Prophet was terminated immediately.

The academy held a meeting for parents Monday night to discuss the incident.

In 2019, Prophet was arrested for inappropriately touching a student at South Ocala Elementary.

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