Boy, 7, Says He Was Attacked By Classmate With Box Cutter At Newark School
NEWARK, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- You send your children off to school and hope they are safe inside their classroom, but such was not the case for a Newark first-grader who was attacked with a box cutter.
As CBS2's Christine Sloan reported, Zahler Spruill had to get three stitches after the recent incident at Hawthorne Avenue Elementary School. He said he was attacked by another student.
"He came over, and then he found the box cutter, and then I was running around and he was chasing me, chasing me -- and then he cut me up inside my head," Zahler said.
Zahler's mother, Latoya Spruill, was shocked.
"The teacher went out to take a phone call - my son, along with another classmate, were up. The classmate went into the teacher's drawer, and found the box cutter, charged at my son, and cut him up on the top of his head," she said.
The Newark School District would only say the teacher has been removed from the classroom pending an investigation. They would not identify the teacher, and Zahler's mother would not either.
But of the box cutter, she wanted to know, "Why was it there?"
Spruill also wanted to know why the teacher left more than 20 students unattended.
"It could have been worse," she said. "The little boy could've cut him on the face; on his throat. He could have charged after other kids."
CBS2 News has learned police are now investigating -- interviewing mother and son to find out exactly what happened inside the school.
"No I don't blame the child, because again, kids are going to be kids," Latoya Spruill said. "It's just that the teacher should have been paying attention. I think that the phone call could have waited."
Spruill said she is reporting the terrifying incident to police to make sure what happened to her son does not happen to another child.
The Essex County Prosecutor's office will oversee the police investigation into the incident, but would not comment on the case because the child is a juvenile. But under New Jersey law, it is highly unlikely that a first-grader or the teacher will face any criminal charges, Sloan reported.
But the child will more than likely receive counseling.