A county emergency medical services employee has been charged with assaulting a child.

  Scott Anthony Ludwig, 44, is charged with 3third degree assault and battery, according to an arrest warrant.

  Ludwig was restraining a 7-year-old student at New Bridge Academy in West Columbia Friday when he struck the student in the face with his open right hand, the warrant said. The student was being transported for behavioral issues, investigators said.

  The student was trying to bite Ludwig’s arm before Ludwig struck him, according to the warrant. Detectives said Ludwig told them he hit the student as a reaction to being bitten.

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