Desmond Omigie, 11, says he got into a fight with another student on the basketball court at Hope Christian Academy in Jonesboro.
Omigie says he punched the other kid in the nose.
But the student and his family say the beating he took from the pastor at the school was much worse.
"He was black and blue," Desmond’s mother Patricia told Channel 2 Action News.
"I don't know how to explain it. So brutal," Desmond says about being spanked by pastor Robert Taylor.
Taylor runs the school. He says the school uses spanking as a punishment. It is a procedure that parents permit when they bring the kids to the school. Taylor says Omigie’s punishment was protocol.
But Desmond's family says Taylor went too far.
"Before he spanked me, he said, 'I'm going to beat you until I get tired," Desmond says.
Desmond's mother says her son's injuries to his back were bad enough to take him to the doctor. The family has also filed a police report and wants an investigation of Pastor Taylor and his wife.
"I feel that I have failed to protect him and that me sending him to that school has caused him harm," Patricia Omigie said.