Teacher Threw Hot Tea on Students to Stop Fight
A teacher has been placed on paid administrative leave after using her hot cup of tea to break up a fight between students.
A physical fight broke out at Hastings High School, Michigan between students Skyler Henion, 15, and Dillon Anderson, 18, after the pair exchanged heated text messages.
"Everybody says that she was supposedly screaming down the hall saying that she was going to [throw the tea], but I never heard it. I was too caught up in the moment," Henion told told WOOD-TV.
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The teacher, whose name is being withheld, allegedly approached the boys clutching a cup of hot tea before tossing the drink onto them.
"I just felt the tea running down my neck to my back and it was burning," Henion explained.
"I don't know if that was probably the best way she could have took it ... I know she did have her hands full but I don't know about dumping tea on a student," he added.
Anderson, however, expressed an opposing view, insisting that the matter should never have escalated and that the teacher was not at fault.
"I just want to see the teacher just get let off the hook and just everybody stop picking on the teacher," Anderson told WOOD-TV in a phone interview.
"She wasn't exactly the biggest person and she had her arms full with bags and stuff so she just kinda did what had to be done," he added.
Police were called and are still in the process of investigating the incident, and they will likely forward their findings to local prosecutors.
It is unclear what the teacher, who is said to be of Hispanic descent, would be charged with if prosecutors decide to pursue the matter and it is also unclear how long the teacher is being place on leave.
An attorney for the teacher insists she acted appropriately given the situation.
