An incident at Curtis Creek Elementary School has resulted in the arrest of a teacher accused of throwing a baseball base at a student. The Tuolumne County Sheriff's Office received a report of the assault from a concerned parent and initiated an investigation, as detailed by ABC10. Surveillance footage from the school purportedly shows 60-year-old Phillip Hickey, who teaches seventh and eighth-grade English language arts, throwing an indoor baseball base at a student's chest in response to being struck by a small squishy toy.
Following the parent's request for a citizen's arrest, deputies took action to formally arrest Hickey on charges of battery on school grounds and misdemeanor child abuse. According to CBS News Sacramento, Hickey was booked into Dambacher Detention Center. The incident occurred east of Sonora and roughly 115 miles southeast of Sacramento, where Curtis Creek Elementary School is situated.
The situation raises concerns regarding the appropriate response to conflict in an educational setting. The school district's website confirms Hickey's employment at the institution, which now has to navigate the fallout of the event and ensure a safe learning space for its students.
