Photo: Moment RF
A Morehouse College student has been arrested after a viral video showed him choking a Clark Atlanta University student outside an off-campus apartment complex, per CBS News.
On Thursday (November 20), the Atlanta Police Department said officers responded to 120 Luckie Street NW just after 6:30 p.m. following reports of a physical dispute.
The caller told officers that while she was riding a Georgia State University bus when an unidentified male stepped on her foot and walked away. When she confronted him, police said the suspect’s girlfriend intervened and pushed her. The man then joined the assault before witnesses intervened.
Police later identified the suspect as 21-year-old Matthew Gonzales Forestine, who was booked into the Fulton County Jail on charges of aggravated assault and making terroristic threats.
The altercation was recorded by bystanders outside The Legacy at Centennial Apartments and quickly spread online after being reshared by Clark Atlanta junior Kayla Bryant, the victim in the video.
In a separate video, Bryant said the man and his girlfriend were sitting near her on an apartment shuttle. The man stepped on Bryant’s foot as she was exiting the shuttle.
“He steps on me, and I say, ‘Excuse me, can you apologize?’” Bryant recalled. “And he didn’t say anything.”
Bryant said the suspect’s girlfriend confronted her, asking, “Is there a problem?” before puting her hands in Bryant’s face and turning to her boyfriend to say, “You got it, bae?” Moments later, Bryant said the Morehouse student put her in a chokehold.
“He picks me up off the ground and starts strangling me. I couldn’t breathe… He was telling me he was going to kill me,” she said.
In a statement, Clark Atlanta President George T. French Jr. called the assault “unacceptable.”
“As the President… my first priority is the safety and well-being of our students,” French said. “As a father, this disgusting display of violence against a young woman has no place in our community.”
Morehouse President Dr. F. DuBois Bowman said the incident was “completely inconsistent” with the college’s values.
“Violence or threats of violence have no place in the Morehouse community, particularly violence against women,” Bowman wrote, adding that the school is cooperating fully with Clark Atlanta and Atlanta police.
An investigation into the incident remains ongoing.
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