FORT SMITH, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — A Fort Smith mother speaks out after she says her son suffered physical and mental damage from his basketball coach at Kimmons Middle School in Fort Smith, who remains employed by the district.
On January 28, 12-year-old Ayden Caeser, a student at Kimmons, loaded onto a bus to head to Fayetteville for a basketball game.
Ayden’s mother, Shaykila Caeser says she unable to attend the game, but Shaykila’s dad attended in her place. During the game at Woodland Jr. High in Fayetteville, the team’s lead began to slip away, and tensions began to rise with Coach Kamarr Arnold.
“They were losing really bad, and came halftime, he was already yelling at them,” Shaykila said. “It was a bunch of plays, or going over the plays, or the teammates weren’t listening. He got upset and he grabbed the clipboard.”
Shaykila says it was then that Arnold swung the clipboard, striking Ayden in the forehead.
“He grabbed the clipboard with his left hand and then slung it across. When he threw it, Ayden just so happened to be sitting on that left-hand side, and the clipboard just hit him right across the forehead,” Shaykila said.
She says her dad explained what happened over the phone.
“Coach Arnold waved my dad down, and explained that there had been an incident… He came into the locker room, and there was a trail of blood leading from where Ayden was sitting up into the shower, and there was just blood running down his face,” Shaykila explained.
That move by Arnold not only landed Ayden a trip to the Arkansas Children’s Hospital, but it also led Shaykila to press criminal charges against the coach.
“I felt like I failed as a parent. I felt like I should have been there. I felt like I gave too much trust in one person or two people, the coaches. I just felt like I should have done better,” Shaykila said.
After her son returned home, he said, “Mom, I missed you. I was afraid I was going to die.”
She says after a long battle with Fort Smith Public Schools, she recently found out that Arnold will still return to his role this fall. The coach’s name is still listed on the Kimmons website.
Even with a no-contact order in place, Shaykila says there’s still a possibility that Ayden and Arnold would be around one another.
“We’re still going to most definitely play sports. We’re going to play football and basketball. So, we’re still going to keep going regardless of the situation,” Shaykila said.
KNWA/FOX24 reached out to Fort Smith Public Schools on the matter, but it says that it does not comment on personnel matters.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
