teacher watching fight and does nothing

[blizzard08]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? texas
my son got beat up in the boys locker room today pretty bad, his whole face both side are very black and blue. the school has tried to take a mutal fighting stance with me, but it was not the other kid choked him before gym class and the coach came in and said to stop while walking away the other kid told him after class he was gonna get him...and he did. my son has stated to me the principal and the police officer who works at the school that he was within 15 feet of the fight and stood there laughing about it and did nothing to stop the fight. the fight ended when the other kid tired out from beating him.

so i now have a few emails from other kids who were there stated the coach did nothing and stood there laughing at him. but the school seems to think its an internal problem and she will solve it on her on.

i guess my question is do we have and criminal action we can take against him or the school for this? can the other child be held criminally responsible?
what do i do next hes afraid to back to school because the other kid and his friends threaten him if he talked?

[williesbest2]

You can't sue the kid criminally as it wasn't a wrong against society or anything extremely serious like that. But you can civil sue the student. You can probably sue the school criminally though.

You confused me in the middle though. The coach saw the choking and broke it up correct? Since there was physical contact, that is battery. If there was any apprehension, that would also be assault.

If the police officer and principal were there (watching the fight and close enough to stop the fight), you could file a criminal suit on the school for neglect, for not protecting the student on school property.

As for the police officer and principal, why do you mention the coach further down? Was the coach down there too?

Personally, I would file a police report and pursue civil action for assault and battery (talk to a lawyer too!). I'm not sure if you can get pain and suffering for that or not though depending on the circumstances.

[blizzard08]

sorry for the confusion;
only the coach was there. the fight happened at 1st period nobody checked on him to see if he was ok until a substitute teacher saw him and brought him to the nurse. and that was 12:30.
at around 12:40 the asst. principal called me to notify me my son was in a fight and he would call back with more info. at 1pm the principal called and explained that he was hit over 20times in the face and at the nurses office getting checked out.

i arrived at the school at 1:20 to check him out and speak to the principal. while speaking with her she brought in the police officer who works at the school.

we went over the chain of event and she called it mutual combat i asked her to explain how she could come to this conclusion as the stories we have been given clearly showed no fight on my sons part other than trying to push the other kid off. the coach was in the locker room about 15 feet from where it was going on. he did nothing to stop it. my son told me tonight that while he was down getting beat up he looked up for help from him and the coach was laughing at him. he said they made eye contact.

when i pressed the principal about this travesty of supervision she told me she and only she would deal with her employees not me.

im sorry but thats not good enough for me. i want this man to lose his job or be held criminally responsible for his action or non actions.

what do i do next. the police officer said he is still investigating. do i hire a lawyer? im not about trying for money here thats not my intent at all please all understand that. i want someone to be held responsible. i was under to impression that while our children are at school they are supposed to be teaching and careing for our children.


i hope this clears some up. thanks for your time on this

mike

[williesbest2]

Wow...20 times? That's not good. Hope your son is ok.

Anyways, were there other people around when the fight was taking place (including the principal/police officer)? In other words, did any other people visually see the fight (not hear about, because 3rd hand information is hearsay).

Have you talked to the police officer at all and what made hims come to the conclusion that it was mutual combat? Was the other student injured at all, do you know?

The reason the principal wouldn't tell you anything about the employees is because they probably aren't 100% sure of the facts of the case.

But again, you need someone that is going to basically swear up and down that they were there and the coach or principal were there and did nothing to stop the fight.

It makes me a bit nervous trusting just one person you know. No offense, but your son got the crap kicked out of him, so it is somewhat likely that he doesn't remember exactly what happened scene by scene. This is why it would be great if you knew for a fact someone else was there (hopefully another student and not a teacher).

If what happened is 100% correct (again not calling your son a liar, but keep in mind he got hit 20 times in the face), then you definitely have a case of assault and battery on the student that did this to your son.

As for the school, since they did nothing to help your son, you can hold them criminally liable (only if they were within hearing and viewing distance of the fight though), and probably have a case for negligence since they neglected the duty of right. I'm sure there are other charges in there too.

My advice: Talk to your son and make sure everything is 100% as mentioned. Make sure you can get someone lined up that viewed the fight and saw the principal or coach laughing and refusing to help. Then contact a lawyer.

Good luck.

[blizzard08]

thanks for your advice its helped alot, i agree theres always more sides to the story besides one kid who got beat up and made sure i found others. the whole gym class was there and surrounded in a circle to watch. as the coach looked over their shoulders. i did speak with another police officer today and he was very nice and helpful but said i couldnt do anything criminally against the coach but civilly i could. we're waiting for the investigation to be done and that will determine what we can do against the other child. i have several kids who watch the fight send us email as proof the coach was there and didnt nothing.(ps some kids are really cruel when discussing it). i am going to talk with a lawyer today and continue to find out what our options are

again thank you for your help
mike