Elementary school students aged four and five allegedly beat their teacher in her classroom until she was unresponsive.
The students reportedly used their fists and feet in the attack at Pines Lakes Elementary in Pembroke Pines, Florida.
The pupils apparently threw objects and flipped chairs in the ‘cool down’ room at the school around 10am on Wednesday.
A police officer who arrived at the scene discovered the unidentified teacher sitting on the ground feeling ‘faint’ and ‘weak and dazed’, a police report states. The teacher began coughing and dry heaving, leading the officer to lay her on her side and hold her head straight to ‘prevent possible choking’.
The officer said: ‘I attempted to get a response from (the teacher) by asking if she could hear me or feel me touching her arm to which I didn’t get a response.
‘Prior to rescue’s arrival, (she) continued to blink and breathe regularly but at no point was able to vocally respond or show signs of a response.’
The teacher was immediately placed on a stretcher and remained ‘unresponsive’ as the rescue team arranged to transport her to Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood, according to the report.
Pembroke Pines police spokeswoman Amanda Conwell said ‘no weapon or object was involved in the battery’ and that ‘the victim is conscious and cooperating with police’.
The teacher ‘advised on the school radio that she needed support’ at the time of the incident, the report states. Other school staff said they heard the teacher in the room with the five-year-old student.
An ‘active criminal investigation’ is underway on the incident, according to the newspaper. No arrests were immediately made.
The five-year-old student could be charged with aggravated assault and battery with the hands, fists, and feet – but that may be unlikely due to young age.
However, Florida does not have a statute detailing a minimum age for arrest, meaning that even young children could face charges. A state house panel approved a bill setting seven years old as the minimum age for arrest, but it failed to become law.
Source: Metro
