Teen denies alleged threat

A Springfield student was suspended for three days and is facing a misdemeanor charge after he allegedly threatened to stab a female classmate with a knife, court records state.

http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20100602/NEWS02/6020362/1003/NEWS02          Teen denies alleged threat  •  Rutland Herald  •  By Josh O'Gorman STAFF WRITER - Published: June 2, 2010  •  WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — A Springfield student was suspended for three days and is facing a misdemeanor charge after he allegedly threatened to stab a female classmate with a knife, court records state.  •  Robert Simmons Jr., 18, pleaded innocent Tuesday in White River Junction District Court to possessing a weapon at school, a misdemeanor that carries a maximum penalty of one year in prison and a $1,000 fine.  •  According to affidavits filed with the court, around 10 a.m. Thursday, April 8, Lori Getty, 17, approached a high school teacher and complained Simmons had threatened her with a knife while the two were in law class at River Valley Technical Center.   •  School officials contacted Simmons' mother, Christine Simmons, a nurse at the high school, and his father, Springfield Police Sgt. Robert Simmons Sr., who arranged to bring their son home, records state.  •  He was later suspended from school for three days, records state.  •  However, affidavits state, school officials did not contact Getty's father, Steve Getty, who arrived at the school at 1:30 p.m. angry and looking for answers, records state. School officials also waited more than 24 hours, until 3:44 p.m. Friday, April 9, to call the police, records state.  •  In the days following, RVTC Director Carl Mock told the Rutland Herald school officials waited until the next day to contact police because the incident happened late in the school day. Also in the days following, Springfield Police Chief Douglas Johnston said his department's investigation was hampered by the delay, with potential witnesses having left for the weekend.  •  Johnston referred the case to Chester Police to avoid any appearance of conflict.  •  According to his own sworn affidavit, Simmons threatened Getty while he held a knife in his hands.  •  "I was playing with the knife towards the end of class and I wasn't thinking and I said, 'Shut up, I'm going to stab you,'" Simmons wrote.  •  According to Getty's affidavit, she and a classmate were discussing shopping when Simmons made the threat. However, when police interviewed the classmate in the presence of RVTC Assistant Director Scott Farr, the classmate denied either hearing Simmons make a threat or even talking with Getty, records state.  •  Police interviewed Steve Karaffa, teacher of the law class at RVTC, who said Getty and Simmons were acting normally in class that day. Karaffa also told police that in his class, it is common practice for students to threaten to kill each other instead of telling each other to shut up, records state.  •  The day of the incident, school officials were unable to locate a knife on Simmons' person or in his locker and he refused to disclose what he had done with it, affidavits state. After returning home, Simmons' parents called the school to say they had found the knife at home, and Simmons Sr. later told police he had most likely thrown it away, records state.  •  The affidavit also includes statements from members of the community who claimed to have had contact with Getty where she works at McDonald's in the days following the incident.  •  "As I stopped at her window, she said hi and if I had heard that Robbie Simmons had said he was going to stab her during class and that he had a knife," wrote Sandy Hryckiewicz in a letter dated April 14. "This was stated in an excited manner and in no way did I interpret her statement or behavior as being worried or scared."  •  Springfield High School math teacher Gigi Guy offered a similar account.  •  "I was again told about the incident by Lori Getty herself when I was going through the McDonald's drive-through window and she was waiting on me," Guy wrote April 16 in an e-mail to the School Board. "She seemed very casual about the incident."  •  According to her own affidavit, Getty felt less than casual in the days following the incident.  •  "I still couldn't go to school Tuesday (April 13) because I was still terrified that he could come into the school and get me," Getty wrote. "Robbie makes it hard for me to want to go anywhere without my friends because he could have a knife and see me and stab me if I was alone."  •