Morehouse Student Accused Of Assault On CAU Student
Morehouse Student Accused Of Assault Against CAU Student Kayla Bryant
A Morehouse student has been placed under arrest after a video showed him engaged in a violent incident with a female Clark Atlanta University student, who says she was strangled by the man during a confrontation that also involved his girlfriend.
According to the Atlanta Police Department, 21-year-old Matthew Gonzales Forestine was charged with aggravated assault and terroristic threats after video footage caught him lifting CAU student Kayla Bryant off the ground with his arm around her neck and swinging her around. Bryant posted a TikTok describing the Nov. 20 altercation, which she says began after Gonzales Forestine stepped on her foot as she was exiting the Georgia State University bus, and she confronted him, demanding an apology.
Bryant said she was on the bus when a couple, whom she later learned was Gonzales Forestine and his girlfriend, began making out in front of her, prompting her to move. She said later, as she was getting off the shuttle bus, Gonzales Forestine stepped on her foot, then walked away, and she confronted him about it.
“He steps on me, and I say, ‘Excuse me, can you apologize?’” Bryant said. “And he didn’t say anything. As I’m walking off the shuttle, his girlfriend is standing there….”
From there, Bryant said the woman asked, “Is there a problem?” Then the two exchanged words, and Bryant alleges the woman put her hands in Bryant’s face before turning to her boyfriend and asking him, “You got it, bae?” That’s when Gonzales Forestine attacked, Bryant said.
“He picks me up off the ground and starts strangling me. I couldn’t breathe, and I was kicking off the walls to gain balance,” Bryant recalled. “He was telling me he was going to kill me.”
As the now-viral incident draws outrage, especially in HBCU circles, administrators at Morehouse and CAU have released statements.
WSB-TV 2 reported that Morehouse president Dr. F. DuBois Bowman shared a letter about the incident, saying “Morehouse Men are expected to embody the values of compassion and moral discipline,” and that after this incident, “it is even more imperative that we all maintain an unwavering commitment to upholding these core principles.”
Bowman wouldn’t say what discipline Gonzales Forestine faced at the school, but he did say Morehouse “does hold its community members to the expectation of consistently embodying Morehouse’s values both inside and outside our campus grounds.”
Meanwhile, Clark Atlanta University President George T. French Jr. said he is “deeply concerned” about the “disgusting display of violence.”
“We want to be clear: violence as a whole within our society is antithetical and disruptive to our culture. Moreover, violence of any kind, particularly against women, is intolerable, unacceptable, and has no place on our campuses,” French wrote.
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Clark Atlanta Shooting Is 3rd Straight Week Of Campus Gun Violence During HBCU Homecomings
