EAST BREWTON, Ala. (WKRG) — The former assistant principal at W.S. Neal Middle School has been indicted on a charge of torture and willful abuse of a child.



An Escambia County, Alabama grand jury indicted 56-year-old Donald Eugene Hardyman Jr. on August 28th. He remains behind bars on $25,000 bond.

“He grabs my son by the shoulders, slams him in a desk, then flips the desk over with my son in the desk,” Brian Hawsey said. “My son gets back up..he grabs my son by his shoulders again and slams him into another desk.”

Hawsey’s son is 11 years old and came home from school on the second day of classes complaining to his parents about what happened. The parents say they didn’t think much of it until they received a call from the sheriff’s office.

“My son has ADHD, he has ADD, ODD and he’s on the autism spectrum,” Hawsey said.

The parents say the alleged abuse was caught on camera that has not been released to the public but they have seen it. News 5 talked to the young boy and his parents Wednesday evening. We are not identifying who the victim is or showing his picture. He described to News 5 how he felt in those moments.

“It made me feel like just running away… and I couldn’t because he had me pinned against the wall in my desk.”

The boy’s mother, who did not want to say anything on camera, did tell News 5 the following: “It’s a sad situation sending your child to school thinking he’ll be safe and it turns out he was abused. No one should have to go through that.”

Hardyman resigned from the school a few weeks ago. News 5 reached out to get information from Escambia County Schools Superintendent John Knott. Superintendent Knott gave us this statement: