Teacher hits student in the face with her purse after he pushed her, Georgia cops say

A teacher was arrested after she was accused of hitting a student in the face with her purse, according to a Georgia police report.

Officers with the Cumming Police Department responded to a Futures Program location — a K-12 special education program — on Sept. 6 at around 11 a.m. after hearing about an incident between a teacher and a student, the report says.

Officers spoke with the principal, who told them that the 10-year-old student had become upset because his math class wasn’t running on time, and he started yelling at the teacher and throwing Uno cards at her.

The 56-year-old teacher is accused of telling him that if he got closer, she would hit him. He went up to her and pushed her, and she hit him in the face with her purse, the report says.

The teacher told officers that she was trying to gain control of the student’s behavior when he grabbed her purse. She got the purse back and started swinging it in a circle, telling him to stay back, according to the report.

She told officers that her purse may have hit the student unintentionally, the report says.

The student had a red and puffy eye when officers arrived.

A woman who answered the phone at the Futures Program declined to comment.

Officers arrested the teacher on one count of second-degree cruelty to children, according to police.

The Futures Program is a network of 24 programs that supports local schools around Georgia to provide services for students ages 5-21 with disabilities.

The school has a philosophy of behavioral instruction based on praise and positive reinforcement, according to its website.

“We will treat each other, our students, our families, and our community in an ethical and respectful way,” the website says.

Cumming is about 40 miles northeast of Atlanta.

This story was originally published September 9, 2022 at 11:08 AM with the headline "Teacher hits student in the face with her purse after he pushed her, Georgia cops say."