A Spring Valley High School teacher is in custody after authorities say he grabbed a 15-year-old student by the foot and dragged her across a classroom floor, leaving her with a scrape. Richland County deputies said 29-year-old Marlin Roberts was arrested Wednesday after the incident began as horseplay between the two and escalated into something authorities described very differently.
A school resource officer was notified of the incident around 11 a.m. Wednesday, according to wistv.com, which reported that Roberts had begun horseplaying with the student before things went wrong. The student jokingly attempted a karate-style kick toward Roberts and fell to the floor, the outlet reported, citing authorities' account of what happened next.
From there, authorities said Roberts grabbed the student by the foot and dragged her across the classroom floor, an act that left her with a scrape. The student and her parents reported the incident, and Roberts was later detained and admitted to what had happened, per the same account.
Charge Wording Differs Between Reports
Roberts was taken to the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center, with records Wednesday afternoon showing him held there, the station's report states. Accounts of the exact charge differ: wistv.com reported Roberts was charged with third-degree assault, while WACH identified the charge as third-degree assault and battery. The discrepancy between the two reports has not been resolved.
Spring Valley High School told parents that the person arrested was a former employee and said the district was working with appropriate personnel while following district policy, according to the station's report. No further detail on Roberts's employment status beyond that statement has been made available.
A Pattern of Classroom Confrontations at the School
This is not the first time a Spring Valley High School classroom incident has drawn outside scrutiny. thestate.com reported on an earlier, separate incident at the school in which a Richland County sheriff's deputy removed a student from her desk to the floor after she reportedly refused to surrender her cellphone and leave class.
That same report noted that disturbing-schools cases were the third most frequent referral offense sending children into South Carolina's juvenile justice system during the 2013–14 period, with nearly 1,200 cases recorded statewide and 98 of them from Richland County. The figures offer broader context for how often school discipline in the area has turned into a legal matter, though they do not speak to the specifics of Wednesday's arrest.
Court filings cited by the South Carolina State House show that assault and battery in the third degree is treated as a lesser-included offense of specified higher-degree offenses under state law, though the available statutory excerpt does not spell out the elements or penalties tied to the charge. It remains unclear how or when Roberts's case will move through the court system.
