Times staff
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
BROOKSVILLE
Teen accused of hitting teacher
A 15-year-old student at Nature Coast Technical High School was arrested on Tuesday and accused of hitting a teacher who had taken away the student's hat on Monday.
The teacher told a deputy that the student was yelling that he wanted his hat back and that she held it behind her back, according to a Hernando County Sheriff's report. She said the student yelled at her and grabbed her by the right shoulder, reached behind her, and took the hat.
She said the student later told her, "I hope you have foster care for your kids," and that she was in fear for her safety.
The student told the deputy that he had gently placed his hand on the teacher's shoulder and grabbed the hat when the teacher pushed him away. He said he told the teacher that she was going to be arrested for pushing him and that he hoped that she had foster care for her kids.
The student was arrested on a charge of assault and battery on school personnel.
SPRING HILL
Mother tossed infant son, deputies say
Hernando deputies arrested a Spring Hill woman and accused her of tossing her 9-month-old son onto the front lawn of a man's home.
Jessica Marie Duhaime, 19, faces charges of child abuse, domestic battery and criminal mischief. She was arrested Monday and remained behind bars in the Hernando County Jail on Tuesday in lieu of bail totaling $8,000.
Authorities said Duhaime's son did not suffer any injuries in the incident.
An arrest report says a man asked Duhaime to leave his home on Clovis Lane in Spring Hill because she had been arguing with him and other members of his family. Duhaime had been staying with the family for the past eight months, but the man told deputies that "they had enough of her at this time."
Duhaime's mother came to the house to take her and the child away, the report said, but Duhaime was yelling and screaming as she walked out of the home. Witnesses told deputies that Duhaime then "threw" her son down on the front lawn, where he landed on his back, and a bag of baby food on the driveway.
According to the report, Duhaime then got into her mother's van and drove it into the back of the man's white 2006 Nissan van, causing about $1,000 in damages.
As Duhaime got out of the driver's door of her mother's van, she yelled at her mother and then "punched her in the middle of the chest with a closed fist," the report said. Duhaime's mother did not sustain any injuries.
Duhaime told deputies that she accidently dropped her son and that "she would never hurt him." But all four witnesses told deputies that Duhaime threw her son down in anger.