Teacher charged with assault for grabbing fleeing first-grader

**celeb_2006** · May 21st, 2007, 01:42 AM

Teacher charged with assault for grabbing fleeing first-grader - Boston.com

A substitute teacher who ran after a fleeing first-grader and pulled the boy down the hallway by his shirt has been charged with assault and battery.
Douglas Tracia, 48, left scratches and lacerations on the boy's neck in the incident, caught on a surveillance camera Tuesday at South Lawrence East School, police said.
"It looked as if someone had tried to strangle him," Lina Tejada, the mother of the 7-year-old boy, told the Eagle-Tribune of Lawrence.
Superintendent Wilfredo Laboy said Tracia, of Georgetown, was suspended without pay until the criminal case is resolved. Tracia has worked as a substitute teacher since January.
"These things are very serious matters, and even if it's alleged or unsubstantiated, it's a very serious thing," Laboy said.
Tracia's phone number was unlisted and he could not be reached for comment.
The video shows the boy running down an empty school hallway and through a set of double doors with Tracia running after him. Moments later, the two reappear through the doorway, with Tracia holding the boy by either the neck or the shirt collar. It appears the boy's body swings when his feet are lifted off the ground.
The chain of events that led to the chase began when a girl threw a book at the boy in a classroom. The boy threw the book back, hitting the girl, school resource officer Paul Rossi said.
Tracia sent the girl to the nurse's office. When she returned, Tracia told the two kids to shake hands and apologize, Rossi said. The boy refused, then headed out the door.
After catching the fleeing boy, Tracia brought him to the principal's office.
Lawrence police Chief John J. Romero said officials filed assault and battery charges against Tracia in court Wednesday and made a copy of the tape for the Essex County district attorney to watch to decide whether to upgrade the charges from a misdemeanor to a felony.

**Mira** · May 21st, 2007, 01:45 AM

Gee, really makes a whole lot of people want to become a schoolteacher, yessirree....

**pacific breeze** · May 21st, 2007, 01:53 AM

So this kid is a violent brat, but it's the teacher who is the problem? Got'cha. That's why everyone I know who teaches, and especially the good teachers, are getting out as fast as they can, including me. Do you notice how his boss immediately assumes that he is the guilty party? He shouldn't have grabbed the boy so hard, but if he had just let him run, I suppose he would have been at fault for that, too. Greener pastures await all of us.

**McJag** · May 21st, 2007, 06:13 AM

Originally Posted by pacific breeze

So this kid is a violent brat, but it's the teacher who is the problem? Got'cha. That's why everyone I know who teaches, and especially the good teachers, are getting out as fast as they can, including me. Do you notice how his boss immediately assumes that he is the guilty party? He shouldn't have grabbed the boy so hard, but if he had just let him run, I suppose he would have been at fault for that, too. Greener pastures await all of us.

No joke! Bratty little kid! He sounds really mean for a 7 yr old,too. Now his mother makes him a martyr. Great

**darksithbunny** · May 21st, 2007, 07:14 AM

When my daughter was in 2nd grade, a parent volunteer grabbed her, shook her, and smacked her in the face because she didn't follow directions which was for a stupid school play and all my daughter did was step left when all the other kids stepped right. The other kids were so alarmed and scared that THEY went back to the class and told the teacher. It took 3 teachers, 2 PE teachers, and the VP to keep me off that bitch as they escorted her from the school.

If a kid is acting up, that different but all my daughter did was take a step the wrong way. Crazy.

**McJag** · May 21st, 2007, 07:17 AM

Originally Posted by darksithbunny

When my daughter was in 2nd grade, a parent volunteer grabbed her, shook her, and smacked her in the face because she didn't follow directions which was for a stupid school play and all my daughter did was step left when all the other kids stepped right. The other kids were so alarmed and scared that THEY went back to the class and told the teacher. It took 3 teachers, 2 PE teachers, and the VP to keep me off that bitch as they escorted her from the school.

If a kid is acting up, that different but all my daughter did was take a step the wrong way. Crazy.

Jeeze! That woman was a MOTHER??

**darksithbunny** · May 21st, 2007, 07:21 AM

Yep. It's funny because right after that, they do background checks now for people who will be with the children! I found out later that woman had her own children taken from her. She was abusive to them.

**queenb3577** · May 21st, 2007, 08:35 AM

Originally Posted by pacific breeze

So this kid is a violent brat, but it's the teacher who is the problem? Got'cha. That's why everyone I know who teaches, and especially the good teachers, are getting out as fast as they can, including me. Do you notice how his boss immediately assumes that he is the guilty party? He shouldn't have grabbed the boy so hard, but if he had just let him run, I suppose he would have been at fault for that, too. Greener pastures await all of us.

On the video I saw, he also slammed the boy into the wall face first as they were walking, so I would say that he should be charged with assault. Unless we are talking about 2 different cases, but the one on the news here a few days ago showed him chase the kid, drag him back through a door way, and on the way through the doorway slam him into a wall, that IMO is very uncalled for.

**crumpet** · May 21st, 2007, 01:34 PM

Yep. It's funny because right after that, they do background checks now for people who will be with the children! I found out later that woman had her own children taken from her. She was abusive to them.
It's so amusing to me that people have to go through more check points to work with kids than to have them. If I have a history of sexual or physical abuse of a child I won't be able to get a job at a school, but I can give birth to one a year and raise them in my home, and no one can do anything about it. Ha!

**Elvira** · May 21st, 2007, 05:10 PM

Clearly this teacher shouldn’t be working with young children. Glad it was caught on tape.

Link to video CNN.com

**pacific breeze** · May 21st, 2007, 06:09 PM

The only knowledge I have of the incident is what was intitally posted here. That man does not sound as tho he should be working in a position of trust of any kind.

**shedevilang** · May 21st, 2007, 07:23 PM

I think this guy should be charged he has no buisness teaching if he can't control his anger any better than this

**buttmunch** · May 22nd, 2007, 12:43 PM

The girl threw a book at the kid and he threw it back. Sounds like normal kid stuff that can be dealt with in a normal way. Then kid refuses to apologize and dashes out the door and the teacher catches him and uses enough force to leave lacerations on his neck and leave his feet dangling from the floor? Isn't that how you pick up a cat? I say throw the book at the teacher...

**Mira** · May 22nd, 2007, 12:55 PM

Yeah what was so wrong with the kid throwing the book back? If it hit her and/or caused injury, then I'd say discipline is necessary - for both - because she started it. But if this is something that had been going on for a while without resolution, there needs to be an inquest (hee hee) and proper measures taken.

**Sweetie** · May 22nd, 2007, 12:55 PM

These charges should stand. NO ONE, not even a teacher should have a right to lay a hand on someones elses child. If you have a problem with my child call me, I will go down there and then WE can get to the bottom of it. If we see that he needs to be punished then his father or I will lay a hand on his ass. Teachers are there to TEACH not to physically punish children. There are ways that teachers can punish a child without laying a hand on them.

However, I am sure this child probably does need his ass tore up a little more than the average child. And his mother needs her's tore up for allowing her 7 year old to wear a shirt that a grown man could fit in. People need to dress their children to look like they have some sense instead of like they are appearing in a dumbass 50 cent video.