Exclusive: Maywood High School Teacher Caught On Camera Punching Student Speaks Out

MAYWOOD (CBSLA) — It's been more than a year since Maywood Academy High School music teacher Marston Riley was escorted from the school in handcuffs, arrested after punching a 14-year-old student multiple times. That November 2018 confrontation caught on video marked the last time Riley was at the school.

Now retired, with the criminal case against him dropped, Riley spoke out exclusively to CBS2.

"What they showed was me hitting the student," he said. "They didn't show anything before that."

Riley, who was 64-years-old at the time, said the altercation began during a school uniform check.

"When I got to that student, particularly, he didn't have his uniform," he said. "When I asked him for it, he became belligerent."

Riley said the student first threw something at him and then baited him with a slew of racist slurs.

"He hit me with a basketball, so I decided I needed to call security one more time," Riley said. "Once he finished talking, then I just turned and walked away, and called security. And, again all that happened before the cameras started rolling — in other words, what everybody saw was the second time he came into the classroom. He got worse and worse. The less I did, the worse he got, and it finally came to an altercation."

Looking back on the situation, Riley said he does not believe he took it too far.

"I tried to avoid it," he said. "I took what I took, and I didn't want it to go there, but it went there. If he wanted to avoid something like that, you don't leave and then come back."

On the day of the incident, Riley was arrested. It was the beginning of a battle on two fronts — criminal and professional.

Riley said he retired before the district handed down a punishment and, last fall, the District Attorney's Office dropped the case.

"It was like a weight off your shoulders," he said.

After the incident went viral, Riley received significant support from former students and parents. A GoFundMe page was launched, raising nearly $200,000 for his legal fees.

But for Riley, telling his side of the story was about more than shedding light on what led up to the altercation — it was about letting people know what kind of abuse teachers everywhere endure.

"The sad part about it is that teachers are being treated like that every day," he said. "They're being assaulted, abused and something needs to be said about it."

Riley said the hardest part of his unplanned retirement was not being around his students, but he said the continued support of the community has inspired him.