Crisis intervention teacher charged with assault.
June 27, 2008 - A crisis intervention teacher at Public School 54 in Queens, was accused of punching a 12-year-old student in the head and putting him into a choke hold.
Scott Antwork, 58, pleaded not guilty to charges of third-degree assault, endangering the welfare of a child and second-degree harassment. Prosecutors said the veteran teacher also grabbed the student's right arm and pushed him onto a table during the incident last week. The student suffered a cut on his chin and neck, and his arm and leg were bruised.
Antwork is to appear in court again July 31.
Full Name: Scott M. Antwork
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Queens District Attorney Press Release (dated June 26, 2008)
July 3 - 2 Richmond Hill Teachers Head To Court This Month
Antwork’s next court date on July 31, the first thing his lawyer, Andrew Stoll, intends to do is “explore whether this student is even competent to swear out an affidavit and take an oath.”TT - Since when do newspapers name a 12-year-old boy???!!! And why do you get the feeling those "sources" are the lawyer and the teacher?
According to sources familiar with the case, Lopez is an emotionally disturbed special education student who has been suspended from the school for various offenses at least five times. Apparently, [the boy] bit Antwork two days prior to the alleged assault, forcing him to obtain medical attention, one source said.
Stoll believes that the authorities are “rushing to judgment” in this case. “Mr. Antwork acted appropriately in trying to defuse this situation, and it’s a pity that the authorities blindly made an arrest out of fear and self-preservation,” he said. The fear, he added, is of lawsuits and headlines that could result if they don’t take action.
“This is really punishing a teacher for doing his job,” Stoll said. “He’s a professional: he stepped in to calm a situation, to calm and deal with an out-of-control student, which is exactly what his job is.” Stoll is calling on the prosecutors to “reconsider their prosecution of a good teacher on the word of a bad student,” as well as to “demonstrate that Lopez understands the nature of an oath and the significance of the statements he’s made.”
