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Teacher Says 'Body Slam' Video Was Just Classroom Horseplay

POSTED: 6:43 am EDT May 22, 2008
UPDATED: 1:30 pm EDT May 22, 2008

A wrestling match between a student and a teacher was recorded on a cell phone and it happened in a classroom during school. The teacher at Clermont Middle School resigned after the video surfaced and the Lake County Sheriff's Office was called.


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Stephen Berry says more than two weeks ago he was teaching class in a portable when a student sparked the wrestling matches. He said he was trying to put an end to it, but the school and sheriff's office said his involvement was inappropriate and possibly criminal.

Eyewitness News obtained cell phone video of Berry wrestling with a 14-year-old male student during science class where he body slams the boy as other students stand in a circle and watch. Berry said there was more to the video and he was trying to get the overactive student to calm down.

"It was a little playful, it went too far and when I tried to tell him it was enough, that's when the video clicks on and they get the very end of it," Berry said.

But later in the video, another student joined the wrestling match, grabbing the same 14-year-old by the neck, lifting him off his feet and choking him. The day Clermont Middle School officials asked the teacher about the video, Berry said he resigned because he felt like the administration wasn't going to back him up after the school notified the Lake County Sheriff's Office.

"Certainly, whether or not this was criminal, it certainly wasn't proper and not the normal thing that would happen in school," said Clermont Middle School Principal David Coggshall.

In written statements, students who were in the classroom said they were harmless wrestling matches. Sgt. John Herrell of the Lake County Sheriff's Office said investigators turned everything over to the State Attorney's Office even though the family of the 14-year-old didn't want to press charges.

"It really make it's difficult for them to prosecute when the victim is not willing to cooperate and assist with the prosecution," Sgt. Herrell said.

A State Attorney's Office representative said it was too early to talk about the case. Eyewitness statements also said, two days before the recorded wrestling matches, Berry and the same student were wrestling again. Berry said that was also horseplay.

"They said, 'The video we have doesn't look good,' and I said, 'But there's so much more to it,'" Berry explained.

The Lake County School District said Berry had only been at the school for a short time and was still under probationary employment when he resigned.

Berry could face child neglect and or negligence charges even though the 14-year-old boy's parents don't want to press charges. The State Attorney's Office is attempting to bring in the 14-year-old child in the video so they can ask more questions before deciding on possible charges.


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