The Cheyenne Police Department has concluded its investigation into an alleged physical altercation between a McCormick Junior High School teacher and a female student last month that ended with the teacher on his knees begging the girl and saying, “I did something very wrong.”
In the meantime, the teacher has been removed from the classroom for the rest of the school year, said a parent of a student in his eighth-grade math class.
The school resource officer assigned to McCormick investigated the incident, which concluded earlier this month, the CPD confirmed to Cowboy State Daily on Wednesday.
“Our School Resource Officer did finish his investigation,” says an email from agency spokeswoman Alexandra Farkas-Schulz. “On March 10, an affidavit of probable cause was forwarded to the District Attorney’s Office.”
Laramie County District Attorney Sylvia Hackl confirms that her office received the affidavit from the CPD about the incident, the aftermath of which was captured on video.
“The case is still under review,” she said in an email, adding that no criminal charges have been filed.
“If charges are filed, you will be able to obtain the charging documents, including the probable cause affidavit, from the court clerk,” she said.
Since an investigation was launched, the teacher hasn’t been at the school, said Jessica Parish, a parent who has two students at McCormick, including one in that teacher’s class.
After the video surfaced, parents were informed that the man won’t be teaching there for the rest of the school year, she told Cowboy State Daily on Thursday.
Cowboy State Daily has confirmed the identity of the teacher in the video, but isn’t naming him because he hasn’t been charged with a crime.
Parents Had Questions
The video was posted to multiple social media pages and elicited strong responses from parents that ranged from anger with the teacher for allegedly putting his hands on a student to speculation about what the girl might have done to provoke the situation.
Many also were upset they learned a teacher may have been involved in a potential physical assault of a student from the video on social media, and not from the school or Laramie County School District 1.
“I am outraged at the lack of communication and response from the school, the district and the Cheyenne Police Department,” Parish said following the video’s posting.
“The man in the video … is a teacher of one of my students,” Parish said. “I’m very upset as a parent. This is beyond what is acceptable as a teacher to a student in any kind of setting.
“I don’t think he should still be teaching,” she continued. “I understand innocent until proven guilty, but it takes a lot to send your kids to school today, and he did something wrong. He said it.”
Jeff Clark, an active military dad of a seventh grader at McCormick, said his daughter knows the teacher, but wasn’t in his class.
He also said that what he called a lack of transparency about an altercation between a teacher and student is what bothered him the most.
“They didn’t send anything out (until more than a week later), nothing in the little communication apps we use, saying, ‘Hey, there’s an incident. It’s being handled,’” Clark said. “That’s all they needed to do.”
What The Video Shows
The 1-minute, 30-second video starts just a few seconds before the altercation happens, which is just off-screen.
A girl screams, then the camera swings toward the outburst while other students rush to the altercation, which happened about 20 feet away outside the school.
At the same time, someone in the background is exclaiming, “no, no, no.”
A couple of students get between the man and another female student. There’s a cut, then the student who was allegedly physically grabbed shows the camera a mark on her shoulder.
“I’m bleeding because of you,” she says, swinging around to look at the teacher.
“Can I please have your name,” the teacher asks the girl.
“No!” she says. “Look what you did!”
“I know. Can I please, can I please … no, so listen,” the man continues as he gets down on his knees on the sidewalk in front of the student.
“I’m on my knees right now. Come here, please,” he says, gesturing with his hands for her to get closer.
“No!” she repeats.
“OK, I need to know your name so I can report on myself,” the man says.
“You want to report you grabbing me by the shoulder and grabbing me by my hair and dragging me and making me bleed!? You want to report yourself?”
While the girl is saying that, the man is begging the student.
“Yes, yes, I do. Listen, listen, I did something wrong. I did something very wrong,” he said, repeating that last statement. “I did something very wrong, OK? I did you very wrong.”
“I’m calling the cops,” a female voice off camera says.
He continues, again stating that “I did something very wrong” while looking at other students who had gathered around.
Another student agrees, saying, “I seen it, I seen it.”
“I just want to know what her name is so that I can … I’m reporting on myself,” the man says.
That’s where the video ends.
Greg Johnson can be reached at greg@cowboystatedaily.com.
