Mercer teacher assaulted; student charged

This from Advocate-Messenger:

Police and school officials are investigating after a Mercer County Senior
High School student allegedly punched a teacher Wednesday morning.

Harrodsburg police said the male student was taken into custody and later released to his parents. The student has been charged with third-degree assault and second-degree terroristic threatening.

Police could not provide any more details to The Advocate-Messenger. Police told WLEX-TV on Wednesday that the student punched the teacher multiple times. The teacher allegedly began defending himself after five or six punches.

The student eventually was restrained by other students and teachers. The teacher was treated by the school nurse and may have bruises on his face, WLEX reported.
Mercer County Superintendent Chuck Hamilton said the school is conducting its own
investigation into the incident, separate from police. The student and teacher had been involved in another incident on Tuesday, when the teacher had tried to get the student and several others to stop throwing snowballs, he said.

Hamilton said the student likely will be suspended pending an investigation, but he could not confirm that that has happened. Mercer High Principal Terry Yates could not be reached for comment before deadline.

Teacher charged with assault for grabbing fleeing first-grader

LAWRENCE, Mass. --A substitute teacher who ran after a fleeing first-grader and pulled the boy down the hallway by his shirt has been charged with assault and battery.

Douglas Tracia, 48, left scratches and lacerations on the boy's neck in the incident, caught on a surveillance camera Tuesday at South Lawrence East School, police said.

"It looked as if someone had tried to strangle him," Lina Tejada, the mother of the 7-year-old boy, told the Eagle-Tribune of Lawrence.

Superintendent Wilfredo Laboy said Tracia, of Georgetown, was suspended without pay until the criminal case is resolved. Tracia has worked as a substitute teacher since January.

"These things are very serious matters, and even if it's alleged or unsubstantiated, it's a very serious thing," Laboy said.

Tracia's phone number was unlisted and he could not be reached for comment.

The video shows the boy running down an empty school hallway and through a set of double doors with Tracia running after him. Moments later, the two reappear through the doorway, with Tracia holding the boy by either the neck or the shirt collar. It appears the boy's body swings when his feet are lifted off the ground.

This from the Boston Globe.