Black teen speaks out after woman is charged with attacking him at pool
A South Carolina woman is facing assault and battery charges after allegedly hitting 15-year-old at a community pool and then biting an officer during her arrest. Stephanie Sebby-Stremple was caught on camera last month as she berated and appeared to strike Darshaun RocQuemore Simmons, who goes by DJ.
"She called me the N-word and she called me a punk," Simmons told CBS News' Michelle Miller. He says he was invited to the pool by a friend when Sebby-Stremple approached him. He says she verbally and physically assaulted him and forced him to leave.
"This lady walked up to us and was like ya'll have to leave," Simmons said. "We said, 'yes ma'am.' When I started walking out she just started hitting me... It was shocking."
The next day Simmons showed the cellphone video to his parents, who believe the attack was racially motivated.
"It hurts. I could never imagine putting my hands on somebody else's child," Simmons' mother, Deanna RocQuemore, said.
The video sparked outrage online, where the woman was dubbed "Pool Patrol Paula" and the hashtag #PoolPatrolPaula went viral.
Simmons' father, Bryan, was upset by the lack of response from others at the pool.
"Of all of those adults there, there was nobody to step up and stop this lady. Say, 'Hey why are you hitting this young man?'"
Sebby-Stremple was arrested and charged with 3rd-degree assault and battery. She was also fired from her job. Simmons says he recorded the incident in case people wouldn't believe him.
This incident is drawing comparison to several other recent confrontations captured on video. These include a woman, dubbed "Permit Patty," calling the police on a black 8-year-old girl selling water on the sidewalk in San Francisco. Another woman called the cops on a black family barbecuing in an Oakland park. In Memphis, an apartment manager was fired after she called police on a black man for wearing socks at the pool.
And a video taken in a Chicago park shows a man harassing a woman for wearing a shirt with a Puerto Rican flag on it. That woman asked an officer standing a few yards away for help, but the officer appeared to ignore the confrontation. He has since resigned from the force.
Simmons' attorney Margie Pizarro says he handled the situation the right way.
"Here you've got a video, you've got audio, you've got still shots of what happened and it -- it speaks for itself," Pizarro said. "We saw him not retaliate, when we saw him walk away, that was something that was commendable."
Simmons says he's entered counseling to try to process the alleged assault. He said that from the incident he's learned he has a lot of "discipline" and "self-control."
Sebby-Stremple has been released on $65,000 bond and she is expected back in court on August 13. If convicted, she could face the maximum penalty for assault on a minor: 30 days in jail.
Her laywer said in a statement to "CBS This Morning," "There certainly are two sides to every story." The lawyer didn't offer any further comment.
