Video captures high school student 'body slamming' teacher for confiscating his cellphone

[J529]

Kids and people are obsessed with their technology devices. It's become a sickness this whole digital age. Take me back to the 80's when all this non-sense didn't exist.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LDM_AWcb6c

If you're worried that a teen in your life may be overly-attached to his or her smartphone because they can't stop texting at the dinner table, well... you may want to cut the kid some slack.

As the story of a New Jersey high school student who attacked his teacher over in-class phone usage rules last week proves, it could always be a lot worse. The Associated Press reports that a 16-year-old boy is facing aggravated assault charges this week following an incident in which a 62-year-old high school teacher was allegedly attacked for confiscating a student's cellphone.

According to police, a unnamed ninth-grade student at John F. Kennedy High School in Paterson, N.J. "wrapped his arms around the teacher and knocked him into an empty desk, then threw him to the ground in front of other students" in an attempt to retrieve a cell phone that the teacher had taken away.

The attack, which took place during a physics class at approximately 1 p.m. Tuesday, was filmed by another person in the classroom and uploaded to YouTube later that day.

The 23-second-long video spread like wildfire across the web this weekend, racking up more than 1 million views in a matter of days before it was taken down by YouTube Monday evening.

Many copies of the video, like the one seen above, do remain online — some of them boasting hundreds of thousands and even millions of additional views on their own.

Paterson police Department Capt. Heriberto Rodriguez confirmed to a local news outlet on Friday that the teen who appeared in the video had been arrested at his home earlier that day.

“We took a statement from the teacher today. After that, we went out and found the juvenile and arrested him," said Rodriguez to The Paterson Press, noting that they boy was charged with third-degree aggravated assault.

According to Paterson city school district spokesperson Terry Corallo, the boy is now suspended from school but will be receiving home instruction while awaiting a disciplinary hearing to determine “an appropriate, educational placement” for the rest of his school year.

Online reaction to the shocking video that propelled this story to virality has been mixed.

While many are indeed shocked and disgusted by the student's behaviour, some are also placing blame on teachers, parents, and modern school systems for failing to discipline students effectively.

Michael Eaves @michaeleaves Follow

Our schools are seriously lacking discipline, and parents are to blame. And people wonder why kids don't learn.. http://thegrio.com/2015/01/26/student-slams-teacher-phone/ …

11:54 AM - 26 Jan 2015

James Grey @james_grey4 Follow

Horrid result when teacher confiscates cell phone http://po.st/GwPqzrvia@worldnetdaily …. The Student PARENTS did NOT teach him, "how to respect teachers".

2:26 PM - 25 Jan 2015

Eric Thompson Show @ETTalkShow Follow

Kids are beating up teachers over their cell phones! Why is this tolerated by our culture? http://www.9news.com.au/world/2015/01/25/12/09/student-slams-teacher-to-floor-for-confiscating-his-phone … http://www.click2houston.com/news/student-knocks-nimitz-high-teacher-to-floor-police-investigation-underway/26019818 …

Michele Godwin @Tattude4Life Follow

Every single kid in that room should be accountable for their INACTIONS. Their lack of decency to stop this... http://fb.me/2WEvJcvhM

7:57 AM - 26 Jan 2015

askyosi @askyosi Follow

@GovChristie very very sad seeing what happened in Peterson with student punching a teacher over a cellphone. Kids all need expelled. Sad

8:19 AM - 26 Jan 2015

Some on Twitter -- mostly students themselves -- say the teacher shouldn't have attempted to take away a student's property in the first place, or that he should have given it back to avoid confrontation when the boy became irate.

Gerardo Martinez @LifeGoesOnX69 Follow

@VSOTahmina the teacher should've gave his phone back and just reported him

ref reviewer @RefReviewer Follow

@Mr_King10 @LijaTwin They should fore the teacher for theft! No pension! What gave him thr right to steal phone?!?!?!

9:30 AM - 26 Jan 2015

Jazzmin Horan @Jazzmin_Collier Follow

The teacher shouldn't have taken his phone http://fb.me/1wpDQgfep

4:59 AM - 24 Jan 2015

Others are arguing that students shouldn't be able to use phones in class at all — and, of course, that violent assault shouldn't be tolerated regardless of the circumstances.

Jasmine @JazzyIKnow Follow

Why are these kids slamming their teachers on the ground over a phone they shouldn't be using in class anyways?!

6:17 PM - 26 Jan 2015

Robert @robertjackma Follow

Horrid result when teacher confiscates cell phone http://po.st/bxhAkC Why do students need cell phones in class anyway? #pjnet #tcot

7:26 AM - 26 Jan 2015

MamaDeFuego @MamaDeFuego Follow

This kid deserves jail time for assault. teachers should be able to confiscate any phone taken out during class.... http://fb.me/2YGuu1zZE

David Cozart, principal of operations at John F. Kennedy High School, clarified the school's position on cellphone use during class to the the Paterson Press.

Sudents are allowed to use cellphones in class for academic purposes, according to Cozard, but staff are permitted to take away the devices and return them at the end of the day if students use them for reasons un-related to their studies.

[Crackers]

Much better title than the last guy!

That student is an embarrassment to this generation.

[jdatb]

As a college student, I'm dreading having to work with these people for the next 40 years.

[TheRussianRocket.]

*Black high school student*

[Drive-By Body Pierce]

Simple solution to preventing use of phones in class... use a signal interferer, rendering mobile usage useless.

I could point out plenty of classmates, even have seen similar incidents, during my time in junior high and high school where a student would take any opportunity to get into a confrontation with a teacher, over something like notes being passed around, handwritten on paper. The confiscated object is really arbitrary and the only thing that really can be attributed to technology in this instance is the ability to rapidly spread the evidence of the incident on a worldwide scale.

[Rocksterh8]

It's very sad what technology has done to our society, turning the young generation into non-social neon heads.

What on earth is are society doing, letting cell phones into schools anyway? Our whole nation needs to wake up!

[Mr.DirtyDangles]

Hardly a body slam lol but yeah I could not agree more. It was so much simpler and peaceful without people being able to contact you at any point of the day. The grip that cell phones have on humanity will never be released. It is only a matter of time until sub dermal cellys are implanted in our skulls. This is not a joke.

With cell phones stapled to peoples faces you cannot even have a conversation with people sitting across from you and actually look them in the eyes. Remember when you had to answer to find out who it was ??? Lmao people have become so shallow and weak they need to see who it is before they make up their mind if they want to speak to someone.

Society has completely lost it's marbles.

[Dekey Pete]

LOL

MamaDeFuego @MamaDeFuego Follow

This kid deserves jail time for assault. teachers should be able to confiscate any phone taken out during class....http://fb.me/2YGuu1zZE

You tell 'em

[drummer4now]

Hardly a body slam lol but yeah I could not agree more. It was so much simpler and peaceful without people being able to contact you at any point of the day. The grip that cell phones have on humanity will never be released. It is only a matter of time until sub dermal cellys are implanted in our skulls. This is not a joke.

With cell phones stapled to peoples faces you cannot even have a conversation with people sitting across from you and actually look them in the eyes. Remember when you had to answer to find out who it was ??? Lmao people have become so shallow and weak they need to see who it is before they make up their mind if they want to speak to someone.

Society has completely lost it's marbles.

Yes, and its only the beginning..

[Chalky]

I notice a lot of tweets blaming the parents. I'm not saying it is or isn't the parents fault, I don't know the situation, so I won't state facts I don't have. I can say there is a serious addiction to technology in kids these days, and being oblivious to it is not a valid excuse for parents. I'm noticing a serious deficiency in some parents these days, these are not your friends, they're your kids. Treat them like it.

[Tortorella's Rant]

Hardly a body slam lol but yeah I could not agree more. It was so much simpler and peaceful without people being able to contact you at any point of the day. The grip that cell phones have on humanity will never be released. It is only a matter of time until sub dermal cellys are implanted in our skulls. This is not a joke.

With cell phones stapled to peoples faces you cannot even have a conversation with people sitting across from you and actually look them in the eyes. Remember when you had to answer to find out who it was ??? Lmao people have become so shallow and weak they need to see who it is before they make up their mind if they want to speak to someone.

Society has completely lost it's marbles.

My brother is like that. Sometimes I make things up to see if he's even paying attention

[TOMapleLaughs]

Surprised this doesn't happen more often. A good way to go viral is to offend those who miss the good ol days.

[aGENT]

I notice a lot of tweets blaming the parents. I'm not saying it is or isn't the parents fault, I don't know the situation, so I won't state facts I don't have. I can say there is a serious addiction to technology in kids these days, and being oblivious to it is not a valid excuse for parents. I'm noticing a serious deficiency in some parents these days, these are not your friends, they're your kids. Treat them like it.

So very, VERY much this.

[Twilight Sparkle]

botched rock bottom lol

[Grapefruits]

We would have never laid a hand on a teacher back in the day. Then again, we were raised with respect back then. Oh, and the fear of our father when he got home from work if we did something stupid.

[Rounoush]

Stupid kids.

[Toni Zamboni]

yes the kids these days are obsessed with their smart phones.

on the flip side, this video wouldnt exist for us to watch had the student filming not pulled out his cell phone.

to this day i still dont own or use a smart phone....i been trying to hold out as long as i can until it becomes actually totally necessary to have one. there are pros and cons to owning one but so far the pros havent out weighed the cons for me yet so i remain on the sidelines until the opposite for me is true.

[etsen3]

So predictable what peoples' reactions to this are. "Technology is ruining us" / "The new generation sucks" etc. Probably because kids have been immature since the beginning of time. If it wasn't cell phones back in the day, it was something else. I've heard stories from my parents as well as former teaches, and some of their stories are just as bad if not worse than this, and that's saying something. These incidents happened anywhere from 20-60 years ago. I think that each generation has it's own problems based on the time they grew up in, but in no way is our culture doomed because of smartphones. Obviously this kid deserves the punishment he's getting, but it's one kid who just happens to have got on the internet when similar things are happening every day and have happened every day for many years.

Simple solution to preventing use of phones in class... use a signal interferer, rendering mobile usage useless.

Cell phone jammers are illegal I believe.

[riffraff]

We would have never laid a hand on a teacher back in the day. Then again, we were raised with respect back then. Oh, and the fear of our father when he got home from work if we did something stupid.

Exactly.

And another example of why I wouldn't last as a teacher.

[Baer.]

Let the kid learn the hard way. Let him use his cell phone all year, and when it's exam time, he'll fail cause he wasn't paying attention. Think he'll use his phone when he's repeating grade 10? Only way kids will learn is the hard way.