New Jersey Student Viciously Attacks Teacher for Confiscating Cell Phone

AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Jonathan Hayward
AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Jonathan Hayward

Shocking video of a student violently attacking a New Jersey teacher has been posted on social media. It shows an out of control student incensed because the teacher took away his cell phone in class.

The violent confrontation occurred in a ninth-grade physics class at the John F. Kennedy High School in Paterson, New Jersey.

The 62-year-old teacher, whose name was not released, is reported to have taken away a 16-year-old student’s cell phone, sending the teen immediately into a rage. Within minutes, the teen tackled the teacher, throwing him into a desk and onto the floor.

The video shows other students scrambling to get out of the way, while some are heard yelling for security, but not one of them attempts to assist the struggling teacher.

Peter Tirri, president of the Paterson Education Association, said he was disappointed that none of the students tried to help. “Maybe they were afraid. I don’t know,” he said.

The video posted on social media shows the teacher attempting to continue instruction, even as the student starts to manhandle him. The video also shows that the teacher made no move to retaliate or even try to defend himself, something that at least one retired teacher found remarkable.

“What strikes me is that the teacher never even defended himself. That just shows how much teachers are afraid of losing their job,” retired JFK teacher Lee McNulty told a New Jersey newspaper.

Police report that the teenager was arrested and charged with third-degree aggravated assault. School authorities also report that the boy was suspended but will receive instruction at home, pending the outcome of a disciplinary hearing to determine “appropriate educational placement.”

Teachers have come under increasing threat in inner city schools. A month ago, two men attacked a teacher in her Detroit classroom. Days before that, a student wielding a gun attacked a New York teacher. In yet another incident, a teacher was attacked by a student in a Philadelphia high school.

Some are losing their lives in these incidents. In 2013, a Boston teenager attacked, raped, and murdered his teacher in a school bathroom.

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.

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