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Over the weekend, a video of a young man violently assaulting Clark Atlanta University student Kayla Bryant went viral. Today, Atlanta police have reportedly arrested the young man in the video, who they’ve identified as 21-year-old Morehouse College student Matthew Gonzales Forestine. He has been charged with aggravated assault and terroristic threats, per Fox 5 Atlanta.
On Nov. 21, Bryant posted a TikTok video detailing the altercation and showing video of the Morehouse student violently strangling her. According to the CAU student, it all began on a campus shuttle when Forestine, who was with his girlfriend, allegedly stepped on her foot. Despite her asking him to apologize, he refused to do so.
“He steps on me and I say, ‘Excuse me, can you apologize?’” Bryant says in the video. “And he didn’t say anything. As I’m walking off the shuttle, his girlfriend is standing there….”
Things quickly escalated when his girlfriend confronted her. As the two exchanged words, Forestine’s girlfriend allegedly turned to him and asked, “You got it, bae?” Moments after, he reportedly picked Bryant off the ground and began strangling her.
“I couldn’t breathe, and I was kicking off the walls to gain balance,” Bryant explained. “He was telling me he was going to kill me.”
Bryant’s video has garnered over 4.5 million views and gained widespread attention online, with many users calling for accountability for the man involved. Both Morehouse College and CAU have released statements regarding the situation.
“We want to state unequivocally that the behavior shown is disappointing and completely inconsistent with Morehouse’s mission, values, and expectations of its community members,” the statement reads.
“Whether physical, verbal, or written, violence and threats of violence have no place in the Morehouse community, particularly violence against women,” Morehouse College President Dr. F. Dubois wrote in an additional statement. “Morehouse Men are expected to embody values of compassion and moral discipline […] I want to assure you that the College has already taken action to ensure community safety first, while the process of the Atlanta Police Department’s investigation and the student conduct review are underway.”
Similarly, CAU president, George T. French Jr. wrote: “I am deeply concerned by the assault recorded and witnessed on social media of one of my students this week. As the president of this institution, my first priority is the safety and well-being of our students. As a father, this disgusting display of violence against a young woman is unacceptable and has no place in our community.”
“We want to be clear: Violence as a whole within our society is antithetical and disruptive to our culture. Moreover, violence of any kind, particularly against women, is intolerable, unacceptable, and has no place on our campuses.”
