Substitute Teacher, 27, Arrested After Allegedly Punching Florida High School Student Who Has Autism

A substitute teacher at a Florida high school is facing legal trouble after he allegedly punched a student who has autism.

Jeffrey Jung, 27, was arrested on Monday, May 19, after staff members said they witnessed him battering a student inside a classroom at Seminole High School, according to a police report provided to PEOPLE by the Sanford Police Department (SPD).

Witnesses who were monitoring students claimed that Jung entered a classroom, “leaned down on” and approached the student while they were lying on a mat and punched them in the ribs and arm. One witness said Jung blamed the student for causing another child’s nosebleed, per the report.

A witness then intervened to stop the attack, according to the arrest report, which featured an incident description provided by a school resource officer.

According to both ABC affiliate WFTV and NBC affiliate WESH, the victim is nonverbal and has autism.

The SPD arrested Jung around 11:18 a.m. local time and charged him with battery. He was brought to Seminole County Jail for further processing and was later released on bond, CBS affiliate WKMG and WFTV reported. (The arrest report said Jung’s bond was set at $1,000.)

Jung had been serving as a long-term substitute with the district since August 2024, according to a spokesperson for Seminole County Public Schools (SCPS), who confirmed to PEOPLE on Saturday, May 24, that he is “no longer” working with the district.

“Any allegations of misconduct by our staff will be taken seriously and handled quickly,” the SCPS spokesperson said. “We will continue to fully cooperate and assist law enforcement as they continue their investigation. The safety of our students and staff is our highest priority, and any type of behavior that jeopardizes that safety will not be tolerated in Seminole County Public Schools.”

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The arrest report confirmed that “contact was made” with the victim’s parents following the alleged attack. It added that the child’s father “provided a statement advising on behalf of his son he would like to press charges.”

Margaret Thornton, chief operations officer at Opportunity Community Ability Inc. in Central Florida, told WFTV that she felt “heartbroken for that student and their family because their life has been forever changed.”

Per the outlet, every substitute teacher in the district is certified in Exceptional Student Education (ESE).

“A public educator who’s working with children on the spectrum probably already has an ESC certificate. I would urge them, honestly, to have an Autism Spectrum Disorder endorsement, which is an additional level of education,” Thornton said.

She added: “But what they also may need to invest in in the school system is working on teaching emotional intelligence and recognizing as an educator how we are feeling as we’re working through the struggles of teaching individuals that need more support and maybe create more challenges.”