David Scibek with his lawyer, Ernest Allen, during an assault trial on Wednesday at Vermont Superior Court in Burlington. Photo by Nicole Higgins DeSmet/Burlington Free Press
Prosecutors dropped an assault charge against Burlington Technical Center teacher David Scibek following a November mistrial.
Scibek was accused of hurting a 16-year-old student of color in November 2017 when he attempted to apply a pressure-point technique while disciplining her for throwing a wrapper across the room. The student told the court during the trial that they had recently differed over a project she was doing on racial profiling.
The criminal justice teacher, a former Burlington police officer, admitted to trying the disciplinary maneuver on the student. But he claimed he regularly demonstrated the so-called “mastoid” technique on students, and said that he hadn’t been able to complete it anyway.
“There was just too much hair. I just couldn’t find – I think I briefly felt her ear,” he said during his trial.
The teen, meanwhile, testified in court that Scibek had dug his fingers into her neck for several seconds and caused her “excruciating pain.”
A jury deliberated for about five hours before announcing they were deadlocked.
The state announced they would drop the misdemeanor simple assault charge against Scibek during a Jan. 18 hearing.
“We spoke the victim about it, and her parents at least were on board,” Deputy State’s Attorney Franklin Paulino said at the hearing, according to the Colchester Sun. “It was hard enough, as you can imagine, to testify against a teacher that she used to like very much.”
In a statement, Scibek said the state had “finally done the right thing” by dropping a “baseless and uncorroborated charge.”
“This case has been a horrifying and unconscionable example of unprofessionalism and incompetence. You do not do this to honest, hard-working, law-abiding citizens,” he said.
Scibek also took aim at his employer, saying that they had refused to hear his side of the story and that he had received “absolutely no support” from them.
“They simply accused me of choking a student and throwing her to the ground. They exercised no due diligence by making this unilateral and uninformed decision and I have suffered for it,” he said. He also complained about being put on leave, which he said had left him without health insurance or benefits.
In response, Burlington school district spokesperson Russell Elek said in a statement that it would have been “wholly inappropriate and irresponsible for the District to allow Mr. Scibek to remain in the classroom with a pending criminal charge of assault against a student.”
Scibek remains on unpaid administrative leave, Elek said, and the district “will now consult with the appropriate state agencies to consider options and next steps.”
Read the story on VTDigger here: Burlington Tech teacher assault charge dropped.