The North Little Rock School District says it is investigating a parent's complaint a middle school teacher struck her daughter, but the prosecuting attorney says the teacher did not commit a crime. We've decided not to identify the teacher, because he doesn't face criminal charges. The student's mother doesn't understand why.
"The assistant principal gave me a call and told me he had some disturbing news, that the teacher put his hands on Zakeeya," says parent Nekenda Carruth.
She says a teacher at Poplar Middle School assaulted her 12-year-old daughter after he thought she skipped line.
"He was pulling her by the arm, slamming her into the locker two or three times, grabbing her by the throat it looks like and he was pulling her by the arm down the hallway," Carruth describes.
Since the incident, she says her daughter constantly complains of headaches. A doctor's note says the student suffered a concussion.
"Some situations no one can prepare for,” said Cathy Koehler with the Little Rock Education Association.
She says force isn't desirable, but sometimes necessary.
"I don't know what precipitated why they're holding that student by what appears to be the wrist…the two of them walk into the lockers…I can't really tell if she drew him over there. I can't clearly tell because I’ve seen students pull. They're smart. They know this is going to make the adult look bad,” Koehler said while examining the video.
"If you think something was wrong then you send her to the office and have her contact her parent and let us deal with it, but you don't put your hands on someone else’s child especially in that manner," Carruth said.
FOX16 called the North Little Rock teacher's home Tuesday to get his side of the story. A woman who answered the phone said he wasn't home. We left a message and haven't heard back from him.
In general, Koehler says sometimes it’s necessary to stand in between students during fights and she even says if a teacher is attacked first, "Their constitutional right to defend themselves does not walk out the door."
North Little Rock police initially filed a report describing the incident as 3rd degree battery, but the Prosecuting Attorney's office says after reviewing the video, it does not see any criminal wrong doing. Officers do say they noticed small abrasions on the student's neck.
