Viral video shows 20-year-old student being led out of classroom in handcuffs after argument

A shocking video leaked online documents the moment a 20-year-old student was forced out of a classroom at a historically black college in handcuffs over an argument over an essay.

The video, posted to TikTok on Wednesday, shows officers handcuffing Leilla Hamoud at Winston-Salem State University after an apparent argument between the student and her professor, Cynthia Villagomez.

Hamoud was seen in the video sobbing and complaining that the police injured her when she forced her arms behind her back over an argument about her thesis.

She is now facing charges of misdemeanor and is scheduled to appear in court again on January 25 WXII reporter Louie Tran.

But many of the 4 million people who saw the video are wondering if it was really necessary for staff at Black College in North Carolina to call law enforcement.

Hamoud was seen screaming and crying as she claimed the officers were hurting her

A viral video posted online shows the moment Leilla Hamoud was handcuffed at Winston-Salem State University over an argument over a job

The student was escorted out of the classroom by campus police and charged with a second-degree misdemeanor

The viral TikTok begins with two officers – one white and the other black – forcing Hamoud onto a desk while handcuffing her behind her back.

The sobbing 20-year-old was heard telling police officers, “You’re hurting me a lot,” while her professor denies calling the local police about the student.

“I was trying to de-escalate,” said Villagomez, co-chair of the school’s Department of Political Science, History and Social Justice.

But Hamoud tells the professor: “I hate you. I swear to god I hate you, I swear to god I hate you, you’re the worst teacher ever.

‘You let me be taken out in handcuffs because I won’t apologize?’

‘You started yelling at me, you were trying to embarrass me about my newspaper. You are a terrible teacher.

“She’s sitting here saying she loves black people and stuff,” Hamoud continues tearfully. “You yelled at me first.”

The class echoes this sentiment and appears to be trying to advocate for Hamoud as she is escorted out of the classroom.

Still, Villagomez was heard saying, “I tried to apologize.”

It remains unclear what led to the arrest, but university spokeswoman Haley Gingles insisted the arrest was a last resort and came at least 10 minutes after the argument began.

“There was a significant amount of time between the onset of the first disruption and the start of the video clip,” she told NBC News. “Sure, it was more than 10 minutes.”

She also said that Villagomez wasn’t the person who called 911 on Hamoud, claiming it actually came from another nearby professor who heard the argument.

Professor Cynthia Villagomez was heard saying she tried to de-escalate the situation as she apologized to the students

Hamoud, pictured, explained in a live Instagram video that the arrest came when she refused to leave the classroom because she was about to present her final project

University Chancellor Elwood Robinson also said in a statement that the “substantial commotion” prompted another “WSSU staff member nearby” to call campus police to “de-escalate the situation.”

“We strive for a safe, inclusive, thriving and intellectual community where all of our faculty, staff and students feel respected and supported.

“To that end, we will take prompt and appropriate action against any situation contrary to these ideals.”

In an Instagram live video following the viral incident, Hamoud decided to share her side of the story.

She said she and her classmates were part of a group project that included a live presentation for Wednesday, but just hours before the group was due to present, Villagomez emailed her telling her to do the written part repeat the task.

Hamoud said she felt she did not have enough time to revise the essay before they were presented, but attended Wednesday’s class anyway.

“I’m not going back and revising this essay that took me two weeks and you told me six hours beforehand,” she said in the video. “And I still came to the final to present myself with my group because that was what we were supposed to be doing.”

After class was briefly interrupted by a fire alarm, Hamoud said Villagomez got angry and said she could either apologize for not repeating the essay or leave the classroom.

In response, Hamoud said she chose to stay in the classroom and continue with the presentation, which she says accounted for a large percentage of her grade.

“So, boom, she starts yelling at me and telling me this is her class [and] it doesn’t matter what I think,” said Hamoud. “I started getting loud, I won’t lie to you guys, I raised my voice too.

“I’m like ‘Dr. V, I won’t repeat it, I’m here to present with my group, like I’m here to get this done and get out.”

But, Hamoud said, Villagomez kept urging her to leave before the professor herself stormed out of the classroom to speak to one of her colleagues.

Soon, Hamoud said, campus police arrive at the scene, and a black officer steps in and asks what happened.

“As I’m telling my story, the professor comes back and says, ‘Yes, officer, I want her taken out.’

At that point, she says, another white officer walked in and said, “You’ve got to get out, or I’ve got to get you out.”

“At this point, like Dr. V. You want them to arrest me? And she’s trying to fix herself,” she said of the professor, apologizing. “She said excuse yourself or go away.

‘I said ‘excuse me?’ Well, old me, I would have apologized, but I knew I wasn’t wrong. So I said, “Sorry about yelling at me and dropping the f-bomb.”

She then announced that she was charged with a second-degree misdemeanor but was released from custody as she had no prior misdemeanor.

In the Instagram Live video, Hamoud says Villagomez berated her for an essay she asked to rewrite just hours before Hamoud’s group was due to present their latest project

Many online users are wondering if the police were really necessary, saying this is another example of police bringing in black people for non-threatening activities.

“In every classroom power struggle or struggle, there is not a single scenario where a correctional officer should be called into a classroom,” Black Lives Matter at Schools organizer Erika Strauss Chavarria.

And as some pointed out on TikTok, the incident happened at a historically black college where black students should be safe.

“Using the police as a weapon at an HBCU is wild,” commented one.

Chavarria added, “The fact that this professor who teaches at HBCU and still doesn’t have the historical knowledge or the background or the common sense not to call a cop about a student baffles me.”

School officials have since said they “understand that police arming is a pervasive issue in our community; However, that is not the case in this incident.’

And spokeswoman Gingles noted that Villagomez is now receiving online threats.

“She’s struggling with what happened yesterday,” she said. “Throughout the day she has been receiving threats and people have been mean to her online.”