The Cache County Sheriff’s Office has arrested a middle school teacher for an assault that allegedly sent a child to the hospital.
On Thursday, a hospital reported to the police that a student at Spring Creek Middle School in Providence was being treated for an injury stemming from an alleged assault.
According to a probable cause statement, school surveillance video shows a boy jump up and hit the top of the lockers multiple times as he walks down the hall. The suspect is seen coming out of his classroom and grabbing the boy by his shirt collar. The teacher then pushes the boy “across the hall and slams him into the wall, causing him to hit his head,” police wrote.
The suspect “appears to say something” to the boy and lets him go; the boy walks away “without further incident.”
The teacher is then seen as he chases another group of students. He “pushes multiple kids out of the way and grabs two other male juveniles by the back of the neck,” pushing them toward a fourth boy. The teacher “then throws two closed fist punches and strikes” the fourth boy “in the head and causes goose eggs.” A fifth boy was “also pushed during the altercation.”
The fourth boy was taken to a hospital, where he was treated for his injuries and released.
According to the probable cause statement, the teacher told police he “pushed multiple students out of the way to get to this student,” and “admitted to grabbing a student and pushed him into the wall hard enough to cause him to hit his head on the wall.”
The teacher was booked into the Cache County jail for investigation of child abuse, aggravated assault and assault. He was released on his own recognizance. The school has placed the teacher on administrative leave as police conduct an investigation.
The Salt Lake Tribune generally does not name suspects until they have been formally charged.