HAMPTON – A woman says her eight-year-old son was called the N word by an employee at a skating rink during a city-sanctioned field trip.

“I'm trying to address it right now as a parent.  My child was verbally assaulted," says Rhonda Johnson.

It happened Wednesday during an outing at Plaza Roller Rink in Buckroe.

Johnson says she’s gone there before and was stunned to learn what happened to Jahbari. A counselor was filling out an incident report when she arrived to get her son from the summer program.

Video: Child upset over "N" word

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She says Jahbari wanted to buy a trinket and the person behind the counter used the offensive word when asking him what he wanted.

The youngster went to one of the counselors afterwards.

"He said he knew Jahbari was kind of uncomfortable, upset, and went and approached the manager about it and she wouldn't speak to them," Johnson states.

13News tried to talk with the owner of the Plaza Roller Rink, but he asked the crew to leave, saying he had to talk with someone at Hampton Parks and Recreation to smooth things out.

A city spokeswoman says the incident is under investigation and wasn’t sure whether Parks and Rec would do further business with the rink.