Teacher Bites 10 Year Old Girl In Fight Over CD Player

[matcom]

<snip>

Prosecutors are deciding whether to file charges against a Taylor County schoolteacher accused of biting a student.

Perry Elementary School teacher Natalie Whalen was charged with child abuse, and a 10-year-old girl was charged with battery on a school official after the two fought Jan. 19, Lt. Audie Towles of the Taylor County Sheriff's Office said. The Sheriff's Office has turned the case over to the State Attorney's Office, which could alter or drop the charge.

The incident began when Whalen and the girl argued about a CD player the girl had brought into the classroom, Towles said. Whalen took the "unauthorized piece of equipment" from the girl and the student tried to get it back, he said.

"The teacher tried to stop the child from retrieving the item, and the child bit the teacher on the arm first," Towles said. "And then the altercation progressed. They wound up in a wrestling match between the two of them."

Whalen, who uses a wheelchair, wound up on top of the student, he said. A teacher's aide, who came into the room after the scuffle began, helped break up the fight.

The student had received bite marks thought to have come from the teacher, Towles said. The incident occurred in an Exceptional Student Education class, which provides special instruction for disabled and gifted students.

Whalen was suspended from the classroom, Towles said. Whether the student was disciplined by the school was unknown Friday.

http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/tallahassee/news/10763667.htm

[NGU]

1. Terrible

How could this happen?

[sendero]

2. Easy...

... take a teacher in a wheelchair and bite her and scratch her.

If the account is accurate, I would send the girl to detention for a week and do nothing to the teacher.

[WildClarySage]

3. The student received bite marks thought to have come from the teacher

makes me wonder if the teacher is denying it? The child could have bitten herself to get the teacher in trouble.

[Richardo]

4. Should be pretty easy to compare bite marks of adult vs child

big difference in size, I'd wager.

[WildClarySage]

5. Not really

a 10 yr old should have already shed her baby teeth and have her adult teeth in place, which don't grow any more after erupting.

[Richardo]

6. What about the 'bite radius' as they called it in 'Jaws'?

Wouldn't that be different? Or only if the teacher is a great white shark? ;-)

[WildClarySage]

7. Didn't think of that

Curses. Foiled Again.

[AllegroRondo]

8. Have the teacher bite a pencil

then compare the marks to the kids arm.

If they match, you know who did it.

If not, its probably Jon Voight.