When a south-end mother asked her son how school went on Monday, the fourth-grader at Hawthorne Elementary showed his mother scratches and bruises on his neck and explained his teacher choked him, according to a Seattle police report. His mother called police, who interviewed the boy to find out what happened.
The boy told officers that he and his friends had been inside the school’s computer lab, where some of them were making fun of another student’s mother. After returning to the classroom, he and other students continued the jokes. While the teacher was in the room, the victim kept talking to himself, despite his friends telling him to be quiet. He began talking to himself again, simply stating “I hate this teacher.”
The police officer relays the rest of the boy’s story: “[The teacher] then approached [him] and wrapped both of his hands around his neck. [He] stated [the teacher] then picked him up by his neck, and he had trouble breathing.”
When the police officer asked the boy if he asked for help or cried, the boy “immediately responded by saying something to the effect of, ‘Oh no… the teacher said if I asked for help he would do it again.‘” The boy told officers that another student witnessed the event, but the report says police had not yet identified a witness to corroborate the story.
According to Teresa Wippel, a spokeswoman for Seattle Public Schools, the suspect is an instructional aide, and not a teacher, who is under investigation. “The principal first learned of it Tuesday morning, when the student and his family came into the school,” Wippel says. She adds that the district has placed the employee on administrative leave. Wippel is currently investigating the employee’s tenure with the district, as well as any past disciplinary record. Wippel also notes that “the detective did come out to school yesterday, and [the student] would not talk to her.”
“At the time of this report I observed scratches and bruising on the left side of [the student’s] neck,” report’s Officer Shaub. The Stranger has filed a public records request with SPD for all evidence related to this case, and we’ll update the story when we hear more.
Police had not referred the case to prosecutors at the time of filing the report. Seattle Police Detective Mark Jamieson says the case has been been referred to an officer for further investigation.
Sounds like the south-end mother is to blame.
That’s nothing…I watch our band director in middle school pick up one of the school bullies and throw him 5 feet down a hall.
If the allegations are true, the aide should be fired and prosecuted for assault.
However, the child in question is still an asshole either way.
Well, if a mouthy 4th grader said it, and there’s only one witness who hasn’t been interviewed yet, it must be true.
Stranger OWNED by Tacomagirl (#4).
Any teacher who tells you he/she hasn’t wanted to do this is a big bald liar.
19 years of sitting in a room with fucking retards would make me snap, too.
@2: our band director would spank goof-offs until they cried. in front of the rest of the band. in high school. and the school has a statue of him in front now.
NOW THIS IS NEWS!
Consider this, there is supposed to be a certificated staff member in the classroom and I.A.s are not supposed to be left alone with a class.
This is true.
But does it happen all the time?
What do you think?
Wippel is currently investigating the employee’s tenure with the district, as well as any past disciplinary record. Wippel also notes that “the detective did come out to school yesterday, and [the student] would not talk to her.”
,,,, …. Hopefully Wippel will actually investigate the incident….
(Did the Stranger miss that idea?)… What does a 19-year record have to do with what happened last week?
The aide overreacted, needs some training in how to handle difficult kids, and the kid needs to be taken out and shot. OK, maybe that’s a bit of an overreaction too. But seriously, what a little shithead!
I bet the kid got beat up by the student who’s mom he was shit-talking and the teacher/aide or wtf told the brat off instead of kissing his boo-boos and punishing the other kid. Plus, don’t most schools have CCTV cameras around their expensive stuff (like computers)? If the kid’s not repeating his story to cops, in all likelihood the little snot is afraid of being found out a liar.