Father punches TA over molestation accusation

[Guest InuYasha]

Father accused of punching out teacher's assistant

 

Authorities are investigating allegations that the Lakewood Ranch High educator had molested the man's daughter.

 

By JENNY LEE ALLEN

 

LAKEWOOD RANCH -- An angry parent marched into a Lakewood Ranch High classroom Tuesday, punched a teacher's assistant in the face and cussed him out in front of students, authorities said.

 

The 42-year-old Bradenton father, Dave F. Swafford, was supposed to meet with school administrators to discuss an allegation that the school employee had inappropriately touched his daughter.

 

But Swafford bypassed that meeting and went directly to the classroom, and is facing a felony battery charge. The school district and the Sheriff's Office are investigating the teacher's assistant, Deon W. Mathis.

 

On Tuesday, the school district placed Mathis, 35, on paid leave pending the outcome of the investigations. Mathis has been a district employee since 1999 and appeared to have a clean record, district spokeswoman Margi Nanney said.

 

According to a sheriff's report, Swafford accused Mathis of molesting three girls, including his daughter.

 

"We are going to look at any allegations made against this teacher," said sheriff's spokesman Dave Bristow.

 

Swafford accused Mathis of touching his daughter at the school Thursday. The incident was not reported to school administrators until Monday, district officials said.

 

Principal Mike Wilder did not return phone calls seeking comment. Mathis could not be reached for comment Tuesday afternoon.

 

At Lakewood Ranch High on Tuesday morning, school administrators and school resource officers planned to meet with Swafford to talk about the allegation.

 

Rather than talk, at 9:15 a.m. Swafford headed to the classroom, where he confronted Mathis about the allegation involving his daughter, authorities say.

 

Swafford hit Mathis in the jaw while yelling, "You are going to jail," a sheriff's report says.

 

Mathis did not swing back. Swafford and his wife left the building, a report says.

 

Soon after, in the school's office, authorities arrested Swafford. Authorities described Swafford as being in a very irate and abusive mood.

 

Swafford was given a trespass warning and was told to stay away from the school. Then he was booked into the county jail on $1,000 bail.

 

Swafford is president of an air-conditioning business in Bradenton.

 

Mathis went to the school nurse's office. "He's OK," said Bristow, the sheriff's spokesman.

 

Source: http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll...01250389/-1/APN

 

So, the father got arrested, and the TA is still out, and on paid leave, no less? How fucked up is that?

[snuffbox 0]

Thats how Al Bundy (and myself) would handle this situation.

 

This will get plenty of time on the cable news channels and soon enough the district will feel the pressure and the guy will be fired.

[naiwf 0]

How can you fire a guy for allegations, especially when he was physically assaulted afterwards? That's a monstrous lawsuit waiting to happen if he's proven to be innocent.

[Rob Anybody 0]

He's already been suspended with pay. Until the allegations are actually proven, it'd be stupid to risk that lawsuit by firing him. As long as he's not near the kids, the parents have nothing to worry about, and that's what the school can say in defense against whatever bitching they get from parents.

[Guest InuYasha]

He's already been suspended with pay. Until the allegations are actually proven, it'd be stupid to risk that lawsuit by firing him. As long as he's not near the kids, the parents have nothing to worry about, and that's what the school can say in defense against whatever bitching they get from parents.

...and bitch they will.

[Vyce 0]

So, the father got arrested, and the TA is still out, and on paid leave, no less? How fucked up is that?

 

Considering a guy just got 60 days in prison for raping a child, I suppose the TA's punishment is all that's appropriate.

[snuffbox 0]

He's already been suspended with pay. Until the allegations are actually proven, it'd be stupid to risk that lawsuit by firing him. As long as he's not near the kids, the parents have nothing to worry about, and that's what the school can say in defense against whatever bitching they get from parents.

...and bitch they will.

 

And bitch they should.

 

Damn, if I have a daughter that ever came home and said this to me...the teacher would be collecting his checks from a hospital. I would expect nothing less than what this guy from any father in this situation.

[Guest InuYasha]

Here's the best shit; when he was arrested, he was told it was a felony battery, since, legally, a state-paid teacher is supposedly the same as a peace officer (cop).

 

On a similar note, an asshat cop was arrested here yesterday for molesting a criminal suspect, a 13 year-old girl, when he found her at the scene of the crime.

[Special K 0]

But what if she's lying? I'm sure there have been plenty of cases. Kids know that if you accuse someone of that, you're essentially ruining their lives. If it's true, it's justified, but one shouldn't jump to conclusions.

 

That being said, if I was the father, I'm sure I would've reacted in the same way.

[BruiserKC 0]

He's already been suspended with pay. Until the allegations are actually proven, it'd be stupid to risk that lawsuit by firing him. As long as he's not near the kids, the parents have nothing to worry about, and that's what the school can say in defense against whatever bitching they get from parents.

...and bitch they will.

 

And bitch they should.

 

Damn, if I have a daughter that ever came home and said this to me...the teacher would be collecting his checks from a hospital. I would expect nothing less than what this guy from any father in this situation.

 

You'd be letting him off too easy compared to what I would do...I have a 14-month-old daughter and if I heard someone molested her, that person would be fitted for a toe tag.

[Special K 0]

We're all very impressed, but what if it WASN'T TRUE.

 

And I'm pretty sure she's not 14 months old.

[Vyce 0]

But what if she's lying? I'm sure there have been plenty of cases. Kids know that if you accuse someone of that, you're essentially ruining their lives. If it's true, it's justified, but one shouldn't jump to conclusions.

 

If it involves the possible sexual abuse of a minor, I'm more than willing to give the alleged victim the benefit of the doubt, even if the allegations are later proven false.

[naiwf 0]

Something like that happened in my high school where a girl who was well known for being "slutty" accused a teacher of sexually harassing her, only to later reveal that she lied and brought up the charges because she was failing the class he taught, and he wouldn't let her do extra credit. So because she wouldn't study, she nearly ruined a man's life. The guy left the following year because his reputation was destroyed over some bullshit allegation, while the girl simply went to summer school studied for 6 weeks and passed the class.

[Special K 0]

If it involves the possible sexual abuse of a minor, I'm more than willing to give the alleged victim the benefit of the doubt, even if the allegations are later proven false.

 

Have charges been brought? I agree it may be a good idea to suspend him without pay, morally, but it's leaving yourself open to a lawsuit. Do you mean it's right to beat the shit out of him?

[2GOLD 0]

So, the father got arrested, and the TA is still out, and on paid leave, no less? How fucked up is that?

 

Considering a guy just got 60 days in prison for raping a child, I suppose the TA's punishment is all that's appropriate.

 

The fuck?? Who the fuck was the judge on that case? You got a link to that one?

[Special K 0]

O'Reily's been going on about it, (rightfully so) so his website's probably a good start.

[Vyce 0]

Just go watch Fox News, it's all over it. The judge actually changed his mind, and gave the guy today 3 to 10 years. I still think 3 years for raping a child is pretty fucking light, but hey, maybe that's just me being crazy.

 

To Special K: I don't necessarily condone this father's actions, but if that was my kid, I'd act the same way. Or more importantly, if the father was prosecuted for assaulting this guy under the assumption that he raped / molested his daughter, and I was on the jury, I'd nullify.

 

You can give story after story of girls / women who falsely claimed sexual assault for whatever reason, but statistically, the majority of sexual assault allegations ARE legitimate.

[2GOLD 0]

So the guy had sex with a girl from the age of 6 to 10 and the judge felt it was better to get him back out into society for TREATMENT and his punishment for messing up a little girl would have been 60 days.

 

The defendant should have did a dance in the middle of the courtroom after that bullshit.

[Special K 0]

You can give story after story of girls / women who falsely claimed sexual assault for whatever reason, but statistically, the majority of sexual assault allegations ARE legitimate.

 

It would be interesting to see the statistics.

 

It's a moot point, though. I'm not even saying it's likely she lied, but you can't have revenge crimes in this country, even against people convicted of terrible crimes. Would I have done the same? Probably. And there will be mitigating circumstances, and it'll probably be plead down.

 

Yes they deserve to die! And I hope they burn in hell!

[Guest Smues]

The TA's rep is forever ruined now whether he did it or not. If he's guilty send him to jail. If not then send the girl to jail for ruining his life. Either way the dad gets in trouble too. Sure most people would do what he did but that does not make it legal.

[SuperJerk 0]

The 42-year-old Bradenton father, Dave F. Swafford, was supposed to meet with school administrators to discuss an allegation that the school employee had inappropriately touched his daughter.

 

But Swafford bypassed that meeting and went directly to the classroom, and is facing a felony battery charge. The school district and the Sheriff's Office are investigating the teacher's assistant, Deon W. Mathis.

 

On Tuesday, the school district placed Mathis, 35, on paid leave pending the outcome of the investigations. Mathis has been a district employee since 1999 and appeared to have a clean record, district spokeswoman Margi Nanney said.

 

While I can understand the father's feelings, due process must be protected. He should be proven guilty before punishment is given. If the father waited for the guy to be found guilty, then punched him, I'd have a different reaction. Since we don't yet know if the guy did it or not, though, I can't condone what he did. The father attempted to bypass due process, and administer a pretty weak excuse for justice on his own. Our society can neither tolerate sexual predators, nor people taking the law into their own hands.

[Sideburnious 0]

So how old was the student the TA supposedly tapped?

[Guest InuYasha]

...and the other shoe falls....

http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll...601270390/0/APN

[snuffbox 0]

D'oh.

[Special K 0]

I hope Rush Limbaugh feels like an immense faggot after playing the entire length of "Where have all the Cowboys Gone?" for this guy.

 

You can give story after story of girls / women who falsely claimed sexual assault for whatever reason, but statistically, the majority of sexual assault allegations ARE legitimate.

 

Here's another story. I'd still like to see stats.

[iggymcfly 0]

But what if she's lying? I'm sure there have been plenty of cases. Kids know that if you accuse someone of that, you're essentially ruining their lives. If it's true, it's justified, but one shouldn't jump to conclusions.

 

If it involves the possible sexual abuse of a minor, I'm more than willing to give the alleged victim the benefit of the doubt, even if the allegations are later proven false.

 

See, this is the fucked up attitude that makes so many girls make accusations like this. They automatically get credit for telling the truth, and the guy's reputation is automatically ruined even if it turns out that the allegations were completely false. The fact is that rape/sexual assault is probably the crime that is most often falsely alleged.

 

When the police investigate and arrest someone for a crime people are willing to take the wait and see/innoncent until proven guilty attitude, but when some hysterical high school girl starts making random charges, everything she says is gospel. It just pisses me off.

 

Oh, and Kobe was innocent too.

[Your Paragon of Virtue 0]

Makes sense that the kind of people that would applaud a dumbass parent would give him NASCAR tickets.

 

It doesn't matter if the majority are true, in the few cases that it is false, like this one, and you act like he did, you've made a huge mistake. Imagine if he brought a gun to school? People would justify that too. I agree with Special K, we can't have revenge crimes.

 

The exact same thing happened in my school, except the student's father didn't get involved and the teacher just left. But after it was found out that the student was lying, the teacher came back and the student was 'politely' asked to not come back anymore.

 

Reminds me of a story I saw on American Justice; a kid was being sexually molested by his karate teacher when they went on long trips to tournaments. At the hearing, the guy got a good deal of time or something. As police were escorting him out of the courtroom the father, who was wearing some sort of disguise by a phone booth, shot him, killing him dead. The father got off scot free because they somehow ruled that self-defense. While the instructor was no doubt a horrible human being for doing what he did, it's absolute bullshit that the father was able to pre-meditate a crime, carry it out, and not be prosecuted.

[snuffbox 0]

I hope Rush Limbaugh feels like an immense faggot after playing the entire length of "Where have all the Cowboys Gone?" for this guy.

 

I wish Rush would share his Oxys with me.

[Special K 0]

The bitch should get some juvy time.

[naiwf 0]

I hope the father gets the max punishment for felony battery AND I hope the wrongly accused files a lawsuit for slander or libel, I forget which it is in this case.