A Superior Court judge has found a former Linwood teacher not guilty of simple assault in a case that caused her to lose her job.
Kimberly Peschi was convicted last May, for kicking the chair of a Belhaven Middle School sixth-grader during lunch period Feb. 9, 2017, causing him to hit his head.
But Judge John Rauh said video of the incident was not clear enough to show her intent was to harm the child. The ruling cannot be appealed by the state, Peschi's attorney, Robert Agre, explained outside the courtroom.
Both Peschi and her husband declined to comment on the case.
The boy's mother was shocked by the decision.
"I don't understand what happened," she said outside the courtroom. "The video does not lie. She assaulted my son."
The then-sixth-grader testified at trial last year that "Mrs Peschi kicked the back of my chair and I smashed my head on the floor."
But Peschi testified that she would never intentionally hurt a child and she had been trying to keep the chair upright, not send the boy to the ground.
After he fell, the student said Peschi told him, "That's why chairs are for sitting not leaning."
The video shows Peschi also address the other students at the table, Rauh said. She then walks away, giving a teacher she passes a shrug.
That is what made the incident worse, the boy's mother said.
"As a teacher, you are to protect the children, not harm them," she said. "I am disgusted, hurt and, as an educator for 25 years, I don't even know what to say anymore."
Rauh obviously saw something different than either Judge Timothy Maguire who found Peschi guilty or Judge Louis Belasco, who ordered Peschi to surrender her teaching license, the mom said.
Peschi, her husband and Agre quickly left the courtroom and went into a private room after the verdict. The woman could be heard sobbing.
"It's very emotional," Agre later said. "We're gratified by the judge's decision."
The student's family can still pursue the case in civil court.
