By Joe Johnson
A student at Rutland Academy reportedly was arrested this week for assaulting a teacher in a classroom of the school on Oglethorpe Avenue that serves students with emotional and behavioral disorders.
According to an Athens-Clarke County police report, the incident occurred on March 25, when 17-year-old Beau Hampton refused to participate in a class on social skills, and after becoming disorderly and using inappropriate language the teacher told Hampton that he was “earning learning points” in the school’s disciplinary system.
That prompted the student to curse at the 50-year-old male teacher, and say such threatening things as, “Do you want to go to war?” according to the report.
The student then walked to where the teacher was seated at his desk and punched him in the face and placed him in a chokehold to the point where the teacher said it was difficult to breathe and his vision became blurry, according to the report.
The assault was witnessed by other teachers who heard the commotion and separated the student and teacher before removing Hampton from the classroom, according to the police report.
The school did not report the incident until four days later, after Hampton had been suspended and placed in the care of the Department of Family and Children Services, the police report noted.
Police subsequently interviewed the victim and witnesses before obtaining warrants charging the student with aggravated assault, battery and disorderly conduct.
Hampton was booked into the Clarke County Jail Wednesday and was released Thursday night, upon posting $50 cash bail, according to the jail’s website.
The school’s director reportedly told police that a conference was planned between Hampton, school staff, the student’s step-parents, and DFACS.