Police charge student with assault in game

A local teen will face charges he intentionally hurt a classmate during gym class.

 http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20100610/NEWS02/6100370/1003/NEWS02          Police charge student with assault in game  •  Rutland Herald  •  By Josh O'Gorman STAFF WRITER - Published: June 10, 2010  •  SPRINGFIELD — A local teen will face charges he intentionally hurt a classmate during gym class.  •  On Wednesday, Springfield Police charged a 17-year-old high school student with simple assault for allegedly striking a 16-year-old male hard enough to send him to the hospital. The alleged incident happened April 8 during a game of lacrosse, but the act went above and beyond the game at hand, said Springfield Police Chief Douglas S. Johnston.  •  "This was something that had been building up and this was something that was planned by the offender," Johnston said. "He (the offender) had been trying to get him (the victim) for a while and he used this as an opportunity."  •  School officials told police tensions had been growing between the two students for a while.  •  "According to the school, it was an ongoing back-and-forth thing," Johnston said.  •  Police said the offender did not use a lacrosse stick or anything else to hit the alleged victim, but the collision between the two was enough to send the boy to the hospital with cracked ribs.  •  Police declined to release the name of the offender, despite the fact he is cited to appear in White River Junction District Court June 29.  •  "Right now, he's a juvenile, so even though he is cited into district court, that could change and he could end up in family court," Johnston said.  •  The incident was one of three alleged acts of violence that happened at the high school and the tech center April 8. In one case, Robert Simmons Jr., 18, allegedly threatened to stab a female classmate while holding a knife in his hand. He pleaded innocent June 1 in White River Junction District Court to a misdemeanor charge of possessing a weapon at school.  •  In another incident, a male student at the high school allegedly threw a sharp object at a female student and cut her. That incident is under investigation and no charges have been filed.  •  Like the Simmons case, police were not notified of the incident by school officials. By the morning of April 9, police had already received complaints from the parents of the alleged victims in the Simmons case and the incident with the thrown object. However, school officials did not mention the third event when they spoke with police April 9, Johnston said.  •  "I called the school Friday morning (April 9) and talked about the two incidents, but they didn't tell us about the third," he said. Instead, police first became aware of the alleged gym class assault April 11 from the parents of the alleged victim.  •  According to Johnston, the physical education teacher witnessed the alleged assault when it happened.  •