Part of an Ohio teacher’s skull was removed after she was attacked in her classroom by a student who may have been high, WCPO-TV reports.
Authorities say the incident occurred around 2:18 p.m. on January 4 at Colerain High School, where a 16-year-old student allegedly punched the teacher’s head repeatedly.
Medics rushed the teacher to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center. Surgeons there had to remove part of the teacher’s skull cap to help prevent brain damage from swelling caused by the injuries.
In newly released body camera footage, officers can be seen leading the teen out of the school after the attack as he appears to be physically unwell.
“Did you take anything, smoke anything, drink anything,” one police officer asked the teen, according to Law&Crime. “I took a cart, I didn’t take no weed,” the teen told the officer, according to Law&Crime.
WKRC-TV reports that a “cart” refers to a vaping device.
The teen later told police he was experiencing a “delayed” state and then recalled attacking his teacher, telling officers, “She said she was going to call the police, and then I just started punching,” according to Law&Crime.
Clyde Bennett, a lawyer for the teen, alleges that whatever substance his client took prompted the violence.
“His behavior, his violent behavior, his erratic behavior, the attack, the assault was not the result of him trying to attack the teacher, it was the result of the impact an influence that the drugs had on him it made him that way,” Bennett told WCPO-TV.
“He didn’t believe he was ingesting drugs he was just consuming a vape like a lot of juveniles and teenagers do.”
The teen faces a charge of felony assault and disciplinary action by the school district. He is scheduled to be in court on February 12.
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[Feature Photo: Police and medics talk with the student/Colerain Township Police Department]
