A Lexington County emergency medical services employee has been charged after being accused of assaulting a child he was attempting to restrain while on duty.

The first responder was in the process of restraining a 7-year-old student at New Bridge Academy in West Columbia Friday. He is accused of making contact with the student in the face with his open right hand, the warrant claims. The student was trying to bite him before the first responder struck the student, according to the warrant.

Detectives said the EMS worker told them he made contact with the student as a reaction to being bitten. According to the Lexington Two Schools website, New Bridge Academy is not a primary school, but a facility where students are sent in an effort to eventually transition back to their home school. The student was being transported for behavioral issues, according to investigators. As a result of the incident, Scott Anthony Ludwig, 44, is charged with third degree assault and battery, according to an arrest warrant.

Ludwig, a West Columbia resident, turned himself in at the Sheriff’s Department Monday afternoon. He was booked into the Lexington County Detention Center where he’ll be held until his bond hearing Tuesday.