Barnstable Police, school district investigating after video surfaces of teacher injuring student

BARNSTABLE, Mass. — Barnstable Police are assisting the school district with an investigation into what happened in a classroom this morning. A teacher physically intervened in a situation involving two students, and one of those kids ended up getting hurt.

Shocking video captured inside a Barnstable High classroom and posted to Snapchat has the entire community’s attention.

The teacher appears to whack a student’s head off a filing cabinet before taking him down to the ground.

“He grabbed him and swung him into the filing cabinet and hit his head on it,” said Kaleb Jones, who was in the classroom when it happened.

Jones, seen in the video sitting at his desk in the 8th grade art class, describes how it started.

“Two of my friends were roughhousing with metal rulers, and one child hit another and the other was angry so he ran after him, and after that the teacher grabbed him and viciously attacked him into the filing cabinet,” Jones said.

Jones added this isn’t the first time his two friends were roughhousing in class, telling us the entire classroom was stunned at how the teacher reacted.

“A couple students wanted to talk but they were pretty much scared to talk about it, so nobody said anything for the rest of the class period,” he said.

The teacher seen on the video was replaced with a substitute and class resumed. Barnstable’s superintendent said the district will take appropriate steps based on the outcome of the investigation, but that it’s already clear the teacher, “...inappropriately physically intervened in a matter between two students. The teacher exhibited actions contrary to the values and expectations of Barnstable Public Schools, and has been placed on administrative leave.”

“If he was breaking up a fight that’s one thing, but that looks like excessive force,” said Zach McAvoi of Barnstable.

We spoke with the father of the 8th grade student whose head made contact with that filing cabinet inside the classroom. He declined to go on camera and told us his family is in the process of securing a lawyer.

He said his son is in a lot of pain at the moment and believes this teacher undoubtedly crossed the line.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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