Teacher attacked, students may be charged with hate crime

Fox ^ | 3/1/06

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Teacher attacked, students may be charged with hate crime

Last Update: 3/1/2006 10:20:53 PM

A substitute teacher at a local school says he was beaten by students and called dirty names. Now, authorities say whoever is behind the beat-down could face hate crime charges.

Carlton Miller says the gash over his right eye and broken glasses are a result of being beaten and heckled by students at Grand Park Career Center. Miller says he was leaving the school premises when five students jumped him.

Miller believes an exchange he had with a student earlier in the day may have prompted the attack.

“[One of the students] told me ‘Shut up’, and ‘You going to get your [expletive] kicked after school. So I think that's what triggered it,” he says.

But it's what the attackers allegedly said before the assault that could make the charges more serious. Police reports show Miller, who says he’s not gay, was called "gay substitute” and other derogatory terms for gay men.

The State Attorney's Office says if this is a justified hate crime, those who would normally be charged with misdemeanor battery may now face felony charges and possible jail time.

Miller wishes the school, which is a disciplinary school for those who have been in trouble before, had surveillance cameras to show who exactly was throwing the punches. But he claims he has a good idea who did it and plans to work with the school to figure out who is responsible.

It will ultimately be the State Attorney's office that will decide if there's enough evidence to pursue this as a hate crime.

[GeorgiaDawg32]

heckled by students at Grand Park Career Center

We're obviously talking about the cream of the academic crop here..

[sausageseller]

heckling = a beat down?

[governsleastgovernsbest]

“ One of the students told me ‘Shut up’, and ‘You going to get your [expletive] kicked after school. So I think that's what triggered it,” he says.

Shouldn't the teacher have corrected the student? "Son, it's not 'you' going to get your [expletive] kicked. It's 'you're' going to get your [expletive kicked.'"

[Kenton]

This story is just so gay...

[GeorgiaDawg32]

heckled = teased, taunted..i.e., liberal students at (insert liberal university here) heckled Ann Coulter last night

[ThisLittleLightofMine]

Hate crimes are ridiculous, any crime committed against another individual is hate and driven by it. Why do we have harsher sentencing and guidelines if someone just happens to gay or a person of color? Hate is hate, pure and simple.

[Abathar]

Next time I get the tar beat out of me I will have to remember to say he called me Gay and Queer to the cop, tag him with a felony on my word only...</s>

[Feiny]

Hate crime is so stupid. The guy was attacked, that is the crime....not that they said mean things while doing it.

[Texas_Jarhead]

Ridiculous isn't it. If I was putting the beat down on someone but was complimenting them or telling them how much I liked them while doing it would it be any less of a crime?

[ZGuy]

They don't list the age group he was teaching so I'm picturing this as a class of second graders.

[Abathar]

"Ridiculous isn't it. If I was putting the beat down on someone but was complimenting them or telling them how much I liked them while doing it would it be any less of a crime? "

Well...My dad told me when he was spanking me that it was for my own good and it hurt him more than it did me, so I guess you can look at it that way.

[John Jorsett]

Miller wishes the school, which is a disciplinary school for those who have been in trouble before, had surveillance cameras to show who exactly was throwing the punches.

Bet they will after this.

[Archangel86]

You've gotta be kidding me. In my high school, "gay", "queer", etc. were all just synonyms for "stupid" or "lame." It was obvious that people that were called "queers" weren't, but they were still called that.

Now this guy thinks that since they were calling him stupid and lame, he can get away with calling it a hate crime. What a queer.

[Question_Assumptions]

How about making the punishment for students beating up a teacher serious enough so that worrying about why they did it is irrelevant? In my opinion, the real response to these beatings driven by hatred is that the punishment for battery clearly isn't harsh enough if people are willing to do it for stupid reasons like that and perhaps the penalty should be increased, across the board. This idea came to be after listening to Bush's response about hate crime legislation and the James Byrd, Jr. murder in Texas. He pointed out that those responsible for the horrible crime were getting the death penalty. If the punishment is already severe enough, then hate crime charges become superfluous. In fact, I think the law should punish any crime against strangers or relative strangers more severely because if you are unstable enough to beat stranger for kicks, you are a menace to innocent people.

[derllak]

I completely agree. Who made up this "hate crime" bullcrap anyway? A crime is a crime and should be punished accordingly.

[Galveston Grl]

He was not gay...he was of the metrosexual wing of the Democrat party. What is wrong with these kids today?

[PETEPARSLEY]

This guy is GAY and he is also a LIAR....he probably deserved to get the tar kicked outta him

[robowombat]

"Miller wishes the school, which is a disciplinary school for those who have been in trouble before, had surveillance cameras to show who exactly was throwing the punches. But he claims he has a good idea who did it and plans to work with the school to figure out who is responsible."

The teacher obviously has no illusions about the inmates, er students of the Grand Park Detention um Career Center.

This fine institution is located near the intersection of 18th St, W and Penton in the Grand Park neighborhood. Jacksonvillians might have some detailed views on the area which appears to have been built as middle/lower middle class housing in the 1920s time frame. Grand Park Detention Center was, I suspect, once upon a time Grand Park High School.

[FormerLib]

Can you get a "gash over his right eye" just from heckling a guy?

This just goes to show that you should keep your mouth shut during a beat down so that can't get you for a "hate" crime!