Authorities investigate claim that principal sat on student
May 24, 2012, 5:26 AM | Updated: 6:28 am
The Adams County sheriff’s office is investigating a report that a school principal briefly sat on a 14-year-old boy as punishment.
The sheriff’s office said Wednesday that a deputy was checking out a May 16 complaint from the boy’s grandparents that Washtucna School Principal Glenn Martin sat on the boy on May 7.
Austin Lonas admits he broke the rules, but said he didn’t take the principal’s threat of punishment seriously.
“He said, ‘I told you not to lay on the benches, and I said I was going to sit on you if you laid on it again.’ But I figured he was joking when he said that,” Lonas tells KREM TV.
Lonas says that Martin sat on him about 20 seconds, making it hard for him to breathe. The teen says it was punishment for reclining on a bench inside the school, which is against the rules.
Washtucna School District Superintendent Bob Allen tells The Spokesman-Review that Martin was upset the boy was wearing his hat inside.
Allen says Martin has taken leave. The superintendent says he can’t comment much but adds, “Hopefully they will come up with all the facts.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
