TEACHER injured students with paintball gun

[sl3520]

What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? CA


Our 14 year old son attended a 4 day camping trip with the charter school that he attends. It was presented to the parents as a \"Science Field Trip\".Our 27 year old son went along as a chaperone. On the 2nd day of the trip, our son notified us via cellular phone that the TEACHER and a few other students and PARENTS were shooting paintballs at them & other students who did not have safety gear. The TEACHER was asked to stop & did not. Our son's came home 3 days early, with injuries from FROZEN BALLS hitting them. Three other students were also injured. The trip agenda made no mention of paintball guns~so we had no idea this would be taking place~ We filed a formal complaint with the school and the TEACHER has been terminated. We contacted the school police and the Sergeant spent 2 hours attempting to talk us out of filing criminal charges. We understand that we have the right to file a civil case, don't we also have the responsibility to make a CRIMIANL report?

THE QUESTION IS: Can criminal action be taken against the TEACHER?

 

[You Are Guilty]

What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? CA


Our 14 year old son attended a 4 day camping trip with the charter school that he attends. It was presented to the parents as a \"Science Field Trip\".Our 27 year old son went along as a chaperone. On the 2nd day of the trip, our son notified us via cellular phone that the TEACHER and a few other students and PARENTS were shooting paintballs at them & other students who did not have safety gear. The TEACHER was asked to stop & did not. Our son's came home 3 days early, with injuries from FROZEN BALLS hitting them. Three other students were also injured. The trip agenda made no mention of paintball guns~so we had no idea this would be taking place~ We filed a formal complaint with the school and the TEACHER has been terminated. We contacted the school police and the Sergeant spent 2 hours attempting to talk us out of filing criminal charges. We understand that we have the right to file a civil case, don't we also have the responsibility to make a CRIMIANL report?

THE QUESTION IS: Can criminal action be taken against the TEACHER?

Can? Possibly. Will? Probably not. It's not as if the teacher was going around shooting random people - they were all "playing paintball" together. (Same way it's not a battery to hit someone with a ball while playing dodgeball). If you care to Google, start with "implied consent".

 

[CdwJava]

Our 14 year old son attended a 4 day camping trip with the charter school that he attends. It was presented to the parents as a \"Science Field Trip\".Our 27 year old son went along as a chaperone. On the 2nd day of the trip, our son notified us via cellular phone that the TEACHER and a few other students and PARENTS were shooting paintballs at them & other students who did not have safety gear. The TEACHER was asked to stop & did not. Our son's came home 3 days early, with injuries from FROZEN BALLS hitting them. Three other students were also injured. The trip agenda made no mention of paintball guns~so we had no idea this would be taking place~ We filed a formal complaint with the school and the TEACHER has been terminated. We contacted the school police and the Sergeant spent 2 hours attempting to talk us out of filing criminal charges. We understand that we have the right to file a civil case, don't we also have the responsibility to make a CRIMIANL report?

THE QUESTION IS: Can criminal action be taken against the TEACHER?

The agency of jurisdiction would be at the location where the incident occurred - and not the school police.

To me it sounds stupid and possibly irresponsible, but it does not sound like the likelihood of battery charges is too high. Unless the teacher and others had the intent to cause harm, I doubt that it is going to be seen as a criminal matter.

But, ya never know. First, you'll need to call the agency with jurisdiction and NOT the local school district police. Of course, that will mean getting everyone who was a victim to write statements to the investigating agency or to drive/phone up there to make a report as well as photographing any injuries. If your son is the only victim that is willing to go through all of that, then chances are this will be a dead issue.

- Carl

 

[sl3520]

Can? Possibly. Will? Probably not. It's not as if the teacher was going around shooting random people - they were all "playing paintball" together. (Same way it's not a battery to hit someone with a ball while playing dodgeball). If you care to Google, start with "implied consent".



***Thanks for the info****

The fact is: "ALL" of them were NOT playing together and YES, the teacher WAS going around shooting people at random, CHILDREN that DID NOT have saftey gear and AFTER he had been told to STOP!
Thank you for the starting place~implied consent~ I will do some research

 

[seniorjudge]

For what it's worth, it sounds to me like this idiot teacher is criminally liable for assault at the minimum and even perhaps some kind of weapons violation.

Carl will correct me if I am wrong.

 

[CdwJava]

For what it's worth, it sounds to me like this idiot teacher is criminally liable for assault at the minimum and even perhaps some kind of weapons violation.

Carl will correct me if I am wrong.

Misdemeanor battery is possible ... ADW is not likely, but is still a remote possibility. We wouldn't have a weapons violation unless there is a local ordinance prohibiting the firing of air guns or paintball guns specifically. And while they can be legally be considered "dangerous weapons" they are not "deadly weapons".

Having dealt with this before in two jurisdictions, I'd say that misdemeanor battery is the only real possibility here. And whether that will even be pursued depends on other factors including time delay to reporting, statements of other participants, injuries, etc. And if the county where this occurred is far enough away from where the parties live, then it may be hard to get cooperating victims and witnesses.

- Carl

 

[You Are Guilty]

The fact is: "ALL" of them were NOT playing together and YES, the teacher WAS going around shooting people at random, CHILDREN that DID NOT have saftey gear and AFTER he had been told to STOP!
Thank you for the starting place~implied consent~ I will do some research

Ah, well that changes things (and it might have been nice to say so from the start). If the children who were shot were not playing at the time, then this would definately qualify as a criminal battery. Whether any PD on the planet would actually file charges is a separate issue. But I bet your local newspapers would love the story

 

[sl3520]

The agency of jurisdiction would be at the location where the incident occurred - and not the school police.

To me it sounds stupid and possibly irresponsible, but it does not sound like the likelihood of battery charges is too high. Unless the teacher and others had the intent to cause harm, I doubt that it is going to be seen as a criminal matter.

But, ya never know. First, you'll need to call the agency with jurisdiction and NOT the local school district police. Of course, that will mean getting everyone who was a victim to write statements to the investigating agency or to drive/phone up there to make a report as well as photographing any injuries. If your son is the only victim that is willing to go through all of that, then chances are this will be a dead issue.

- Carl




GOOD Info from all~ Thank you!

The battery took place within the same county. I thought that the school police would take a Courtesy report and forward it to the "local agency" at the very least. Yes, we have statements and pictures of the 3 children that sustanied injuries. By the way, this took place 15 days ago and 2 of the students STILL have substanial bruses. There was not a delay in reporting the incident, I went to the school within 10 minutes of seeing the injuries. I was told they would report it to the local school PD as well as the school board. After I placed a phone call to the school police and met face to face with the Sarg I was told he "would let me know sometime next week if they would be taking a report"......and "Justice for ALL" Huh?


I appreciate your help as I KNOW this is WRONG and THERE MUST BE A LAW!

 

[sl3520]

Sorry, you are right...I did not do a very good job explaining the situation to begin with. My apologies Sir.

 

[BelizeBreeze]

The agency of jurisdiction would be at the location where the incident occurred - and not the school police.

To me it sounds stupid and possibly irresponsible, but it does not sound like the likelihood of battery charges is too high. Unless the teacher and others had the intent to cause harm, I doubt that it is going to be seen as a criminal matter.

But, ya never know. First, you'll need to call the agency with jurisdiction and NOT the local school district police. Of course, that will mean getting everyone who was a victim to write statements to the investigating agency or to drive/phone up there to make a report as well as photographing any injuries. If your son is the only victim that is willing to go through all of that, then chances are this will be a dead issue.

- Carl

Agree in part and disagree in part.

Agree as to jurisdiction. The school police have nothing to do with filing a complaint. This would be, as Carl told you, handled by the agency with jurisdiction where the incident occurred.

I disagree that it would not rise to battery. The teacher and others were told to stop. They did not. That is all that is required to prove the illegal 'touching' of another. I would strongly suggest filing charges with the jurisdictional agency. If, for no other reason than to make sure the people responsible underatand that NO means "NO!".

 

[seniorjudge]

I wish you would post back with results.

I know you said bad teacher got fired.

Good.

Maybe some more should hit the road.

It's hard for me to believe how stupid some of these teachers are these days!

 

[CdwJava]

Agree in part and disagree in part.

Agree as to jurisdiction. The school police have nothing to do with filing a complaint. This would be, as Carl told you, handled by the agency with jurisdiction where the incident occurred.

I disagree that it would not rise to battery. The teacher and others were told to stop. They did not. That is all that is required to prove the illegal 'touching' of another. I would strongly suggest filing charges with the jurisdictional agency. If, for no other reason than to make sure the people responsible underatand that NO means "NO!".

It really depends on all the surrounding circumstances. So far, I have come across only a couple in my career where the parties allegedly assaulted had not been willing participants in the horseplay - hence the reluctance by DA's to file for battery. And usually these were "drive by" paint ball assaults of some kind.

Having read that there were visible injuries to multiple parties, and that there are photos, then the chances are higher that battery charges can be filed ... but, again, the devil is in the details. It just seems odd that this would materialize out of nowhere and suddenly all these innocent bystanders got thwacked by paintballers ... it could happen - it just seems odd.

As for courtesy reports, something like this would be much more extensive than the school district PD would likely want to take. Not to mention that the investigating agency would almost certainly come back and want to do it all again. It doesn't sound like they are too interested in even opening a corpus report, either - this would be a report simply outlining the parties and the cause to believe a crime had been committed.

Also consider that some school district police departments have officers that are not as traied as other jurisdictions because they may have been "grandfathered" in when training requirements were raised several years back. Plus, they also have cross-interest here as the local supernitendent is not likely to want the district police to write a report that might get them sued.

- Carl

 

[sl3520]

"It just seems odd that this would materialize out of nowhere and suddenly all these innocent bystanders got thwacked by paintballers ... it could happen - it just seems odd".



That seems to be the whole point~The TEACHER actully sought out the students that did not have a paintball gun, or saftey gear~ even AFTER they had moved thieir campsites further away in a effort to maintain a safe distance. Correct me if I am wrong but would'nt that prove "INTENTION" ?

I tried to tell the story in my first post, but also attempted to be brief. Guess I should have applied more detail...I did't do a very good job painting the entire picture~sorry~

WE (and the other student's parents) are going to file a report with the proper jurisdiction (as you suggested) so I will post the out come. Thanks again for your help!

signed..Very Concerned MOM

 

[seniorjudge]

Carl is a cop and is paid to be suspicious.

I, on the other hand, know a whole lot of teachers whose mentality does not rise above that of a frozen paint ball, so I am not the least bit surprised at what happened.

 

[sl3520]

Carl is a cop and is paid to be suspicious.

I, on the other hand, know a whole lot of teachers whose mentality does not rise above that of a frozen paint ball, so I am not the least bit surprised at what happened.

I understand and appreciate the help. I think he should be charged with "felony stupid " at the very least... ha ha