What may have been considered a prank by a group of middle-schoolers could have cost an art teacher her life. All of the students involve...
What may have been considered a prank by a group of middle-schoolers could have cost an art teacher her life. All of the students involved are just 12 and 13 years old, but school security said they were well aware their teacher had a serious allergy when it was used against her last school year.
"That could be attempted murder," a Columbus City Schools (CCS) security officer is heard telling Columbus Police officers in a body camera video. The call about the attack came from Starling K-8 school last November. On the video, the security officer is seen escorting police to the art teacher's door where signs stating "Banana Free Zone" are posted. Another sign instructs students to wash their hands if they've eaten a banana that day.
"All of the kids know she's deathly allergic to bananas," the security officer told the police. "If it touches her, she will go into anaphylactic shock."
During lunch, the security staffer said three seventh-graders smeared banana on the teacher's door, doorknob, and threw them at her while she was inside her classroom. She went into anaphylactic shock within 15 minutes.
"She starts to change colors," said the security staffer. "They gave her one epipen; It wasn't working. They gave her another epipen (and) her throat was starting to close up."
"All of the kids know she's deathly allergic to bananas. If it touches her, she will go into anaphylactic shock," a CCS security officer is heard telling Columbus Police Officers in body camera video. (Courtesy: Columbus Police)
The art teacher was rushed to the hospital where she did recover.
"They're definitely going down for expulsion," said CCS security on the bodycam video.
The so-called prank was uncovered by the ABC 6's Scoring Our Schools team as they continue looking into the fight for better working conditions for Columbus City School teachers, and educator complaints about safety at schools.
The team pulled the police reports of the assault case and went to each address for the three young offenders, who were all sentenced to probation through juvenile court. One address turned out to be a foster home. When asked if teachers should be fearful going into work, the mother of another student responded that she knows conditions are tough, but also feels some teachers don't care about the students.
Columbus Police say felonious assaults on teachers have increased in 2019 with more than 30 cases since January. In 2017, officers responded to 65 felonious assaults on city school campuses, which was nearly triple the number from the year before. The teacher's union, Columbus Education Association, has yet to reach a new contract with Columbus City Schools administration. Teachers say they are fighting for better working conditions and alternative plans to discipline or wrap-around services for troubled kids.
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