Student Arrested after Injuring Teacher
A Philadelphia area middle school teacher had to be hospitalized recently after a student repeatedly punched him. The unidentified teacher from Leeds Middle School in Mount Airy PA was assaulted by the student around 8:40 am in his 8th grade science classroom.
According to reports, the 14-year-old student punched the veteran middle school teacher in the face several times after a verbal argument escalated. According to district spokesman Fernando Gallard, the incident is still under investigation but the conflict is thought to have developed just after the teacher finished up handing out recently graded assignments.
In accordance with school policy, which requires that police be notified anytime a staff member is assaulted by a student, Mount Airy police were called to the scene immediately. Spokesman Gallard told reporters that the student who caused the injury was arrested and may face assault charges in the wake of a Pennsylvania state law that requires minors who seriously attack school staff to be charged with aggravated assault.
The teacher was treated at the Einstein hospital for injuries early Monday morning and released later during the afternoon. Although the teacher suffered from swelling to the face and injury serious enough to warrant a trip to the emergency room, the full extent of the teacher’s injury has not been released.
This incident certainly isn’t the first of its kind to occur nationally in and most certainly has occurred in the St. Louis area as well. According to a recent nea.org report, during an earlier incident, a substitute teacher from Pittsburg lost hearing in one ear and suffered blurred vision after students tossed an M-80 explosive into the classroom where he was reading privately.
Teachers who are assaulted in St. Louis in similar manners may want to seek the counsel of a personal injury lawyer after their attack. Although many laws prevent school employees from suing their employers, teachers injured by students are sometimes able to recover damages from the student and his or her parents. We encourage you if you have been involved in a similar incident to contact us quickly to review your rights.