By Tressa Eckermann, Senior Staff Writer
It’s hard to defend a 64-year-old teacher who is accused of giving a killer right hook to one of her students.
But it’s also hard to defend a student who was caught on a cell phone camera backing a 64-year-old woman into a corner, screaming obscene names in her face and taking a threatening step toward her.
Three weeks ago in Florida, a high school art teacher, Sandra Hadsock and a student had an argument that soon escalated into a physical altercation. Captured on another student’s cell phone, the video shows the student and Hadsock fighting, and Hadsock being pushed into a corner by the student. When he makes another moved towards her, she strikes out.
After being arrested and charged with child abuse, the charges were dropped by the state’s attorney’s office. They said that it was unclear if Hadsock was acting in self-defense.
“If she wouldn’t have done anything, you might have been talking about some very severe injuries to a 64-year-old teacher. She wasn’t going to wait to find out,” Hadsock’s attorney said.
On first viewing, the video is shocking. But the shock comes mostly who was involved in the incident. In most cases, I wouldn’t defend a woman who hits one of her student, but there’s something else disturbing about the video.
After the second time I watched it I realized that if I had been viewing it without knowing she was a teacher and he was a student, I would have thought she acted rationally. It’s simply human nature; fight or flight.
I’m not saying that it’s okay to attack someone, but this particular woman felt that she had no other option. Perhaps it wasn’t the smartest move, or the right one. But who are we to judge? Like her attorney said, she wasn’t going to wait to find out.
I can’t say that I blame her. For me, the only question remains is, did this altercation between student and teacher turn into a scene from “Fight Club?”
