An 11-year-old Detroit schoolgirl was hit in the head by a metal hockey stick at school which was thrown by a substitute teacher. The incident happened at the Hope Academy in Detroit, Michigan in May, according to attorney Jon Marko, and left the young girl with brain trauma.
The substitute gym teacher, Jacqueline Brown, had become angry at another student and was attempting to throw the stick at another student. ‘She was yelling and doing some cussing,’ said Cha’Kyra Thomas, the student who was hit by the hockey stick. ‘The next thing I know I feel something hard on the side of my head.’
Brown has since been convicted of child abuse in connection to this incident and Thomas’ family is suing the school and the substitute. In an interview with FOX 2 Detroit, Marko said the excuse given by the teacher and the district doesn’t add up. ‘Her excuse was she was trying to throw the hockey stick at another kid, and hit her by accident,’ the attorney said.
Thomas, who now has brain trauma according to the lawyer, said she immediately became dazed and confused after being struck by the item. Her mental state became so poor that she wandered around the school after it happened.
‘When the mother of this little girl gets to the school, and is wondering, “where is my daughter,” they couldn’t even find her,’ Marko said. ‘She was found wandering the hallways confused with blood running down her face,’ the attorney continued.
The girl was rushed to the hospital where she was given staples to bind the injury. Marko says Brown, who was sentenced last week in Michigan, also never apologized to the young girl or her family for the damage she had caused. ‘What kind of a teacher throws a hockey stick at a fifth-grader’s head? I mean you obviously have to have something wrong with your head,’ Marko said.
Thomas was in court for the sentencing and said that just being around Brown was painful. ‘Just looking at her brought back all the memories of getting hit in my head,’ said the young girl.
Due to her lingering trauma, Thomas had to move schools and is seeing a counselor to cope. She said she still has nightmares from the incident. ‘It’s like flashes what happened that day,’ Thomas said. ‘I got hit on my head I remember kids just laughing at me.’ ‘My memories, now I got to wear glasses and I don’t remember real good,’ she said.
As part of her plea agreement, Brown will serve two years of probation. The teacher will also have to attend anger management courses. Marko told FOX 2 the young girl’s family is suing the teacher, the school, and the staffing agency used by Hope Academy.
↯↯↯Read More On The Topic On TDPel Media ↯↯↯