A Georgia high school student is speaking publicly for the first time after being tased by a police officer on a school bus in an incident that has gone viral on social media.

What happened to Lanier Johnson-Hunt?

In December, Lanier Johnson-Hunt, 18, was joined by his family and legal team at a news conference, where he described an altercation with a new bus driver that led to him being tased on a school bus carrying students from Langston Hughes High School in Fairburn, Georgia, on Dec. 18, Atlanta News First reported.

Johnson-Hunt said the bus driver thought he did not belong on the bus and told him he had to get off. After he refused, Johnson-Hunt said a school resource officer got on and tased him multiple times, leaving burn marks on his chest and throat.

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“As soon as I got on the bus, the bus driver told me that I wasn’t supposed to be on the bus and today she gonna make sure I’m gonna get off the bus, so don’t even sit down,” Johnson-Hunt said, per Atlanta News First.

Despite the police officer’s claims in video footage, Johnson-Hunt has maintained that he was on the correct bus and was hurrying home to his 6-year-old brother with autism.

“He was merely trying to get home to take care of his little brother. He was on the right bus,” Gerald Griggs, president of the Georgia NAACP, said at the news conference, Fox 5 Atlanta reported.

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Johnson-Hunt was reportedly tased for refusing to get off the bus

One of the students recorded the incident on the bus; the video shows the resource officer tasing Johnson-Hunt after the bus driver called school administrators, claiming he was not on the correct bus.

Administrators had called for everyone to exit the bus, and Johnson-Hunt said he complied. The students were later allowed back on without officials verifying their bus assignments, Johnson-Hunt said, Fox 5 Atlanta reported. The teen sat down, and the bus driver contacted the school resource officer.

When Fulton County school police officers arrived, one appeared to grab Johnson-Hunt by the neck after he refused to get off. Officers then appeared to drag him off the bus and used a taser again. The teen said he was handcuffed and slapped in the face by one of the officers. Administrators intervened before the taser could be used again.

The teen’s attorneys and his mother speak out following the incident

Griggs said the force that officers used against Johnson-Hunt was unnecessary, given his weight of 115 pounds.

“The administration should have done more to check before having this encounter,” he said at the news conference. “These types of situations turn deadly, and we are glad that we are here not for a deadly encounter because he is still here, but we are upset we have to do this over and over and over and over again.”

National civil rights attorney Harry Daniels also chimed in, detailing what Johnson-Hunt had gone through and the injuries he sustained from the incident.

“The video speaks for itself,” Daniels said. “At one point, the officer had his hands around his [Lanier’s] neck, slamming him back into the seat, then using his taser in a drive-stun mode and that’s when the taser actually is pressed to the body and the prongs actually [cause] burning sensations to the body.”

Fulton County Schools confirmed that the officer involved was removed from duty following a probe into the incident, Fox 5 Atlanta reported. Johnson-Hunt’s attorneys said he was also suspended for 10 days and charged with obstruction, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct.

His mother, Sharrita Johnson, also spoke out during the news conference and defended her son.

“At the end of the day, he was on the right bus. He didn’t lie to anyone. He wasn’t trying to fight the police officer, and if they generally would have just asked, they would have knew he was on the right bus. It’s just scary. He could have died. You tased him in the middle of his chest,” she said during the news conference.

Watch the full news conference below:

Black High School student

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