Weymouth teacher accused of assault on student

WEYMOUTH, Mass. -- A teacher was put on administrative leave after he was accused of attacking a student in Weymouth.

Weymouth teacher Elbert Foster, with his arm in a sling, is defending his actions after police say he brawled with 14-year-old Carl Morcy inside math class.

“He like swung on me,” said Carl Morcy, Weymouth Freshman.

“This kid struck me and assaulted me,” said Foster.

But the teacher and the student have two very different views of that fight that broke out in a classroom at Weymouth High School.

The student says Foster swung first, but the 45-year-old teacher says it was self-defense.

“I just retaliated on that third punch and I don’t know at what point a teacher’s supposed to stand there and take abuse” said Foster.

"I believe it's okay to defend yourself when you need to defend yourself," said Thomas Finnerty Jr., attorney.

“We started fighting. We started getting into each other. I hit him a couple times, he hit me a couple times,” said Morcy.

The two agree that Foster had asked Morcy to leave the classroom because of disruptive behavior. They agree there was some contact on the way out, but they disagree about who threw the first punch.

“He was sort of bumping me with his chest and I was sort of with my free arm just pushed him off, and he just swung on me,” said Foster.

Morcy says the fists started to fly after he pushed his teacher down into a desk. He says Foster had already swung at him and missed.

“I froze up. He threw the first one - he should have hit me. I froze like a statue. I didn’t think a teacher would hit me, try to hit me. And the second one I had to dodge down with the third one,” said Morcy. “How many chances do you have to give a grown man before he stops, honestly.”

At the police station with his family to tell his side of the story, Morcy’s dad said the teacher was wrong.

“I never touch my kids. I don’t want nobody to put their hands on my kids,” said Sintegene Morcy, student’s father.

Foster told 7NEWS when he left Carney Hospital early Friday morning after he was treated for a partially separated shoulder and lacerations around his mouth that he was acting in self defense.

“I pushed him away from me. I had the option, I could like pulled out all the stops - like head butt. I could have kicked the dude in his face, you know. I could have punched him in the face, but I pushed the dude instead,” said Morcy.

“If I could turn back the hands of time…I would just avoid the whole situation. I probably would have called security into the classroom a little bit earlier and asked them to remove the student from the classroom,” said Foster.

The school committee chair told parents the teacher was just hired. Parents say they don’t have all the facts.

“I’m not saying a teacher has the right to hit a child, but did this child start punching him first and he was defending himself? If that’s the case it’s a whole different story,” said Gidget Manning, parent.

“I felt really bad about the situation cause from what I understand the students a pretty good kid and the teachers a good teacher, according to my son,” said Sandy Jones, whose son witnessed the fight.

Foster said he has been teaching for about 20 years - 15 years in the Boston Public School system. He has been at Weymouth High School for just a few weeks. He said he has never had a problem with any students and he’s never been involved with any sort of confrontation.

For all this Morcy said the school told him to simply take Friday off. Meanwhile, Foster is on administrative leave and could face criminal charges.

“Life goes on and I just roll with the punches,” said Foster.

The investigation is ongoing. It is unclear if Foster will be facing any charges. Forster said in the end he hopes it’s the student who faces assault charges.

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