Teacher Charged With Lewd Acts On A Child, Felony Evading
LOS ANGELES (CBS) — A Los Angeles Unified School District teacher was charged Friday with committing lewd acts on a child and felony evading.
Kip Richard Arnold, 51, remains hospitalized following a car chase from Lakewood to Rolling Estates, where he crashed through a guard rail, flew down a steep embankment and crashed into a tree. Arnold will not be arraigned until he is discharged, according to the District Attorney's Office.
Prosecutors say Arnold had a sexual relationship with the then-14-year-old student between June and September 2005, while he was a teacher at Nimitz Middle School. The girl, now an adult, recently reported the relationship, according to the District Attorney's Office.
Arnold, who most recently worked as a physical education teacher at Southeast Middle School, has also worked at Gage Middle School and Orchard Academies.
Arnold was charged with three counts of lewd acts on a child who was 14, two counts of oral copulation of a person under 16, one count of sexual penetration by a foreign object and one count of evading an officer.
Bell police had Arnold under surveillance at his Lakewood home, when he walked out, saw the officers and told them, "Hey I know why you're here. I'm going to commit suicide."
Arnold then drove off, leading police on a high-speed chase through Torrance and onto Crenshaw Boulevard in Rolling Hills Estates, where he swerved his pickup truck off the road, flew over an embankment and slammed into the base of a tree.
He faces up to seven years in prison if convicted, according to the District Attorney's Office.
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