A New York City high school teacher is facing charges after he was captured on video slamming a 14-year-old student into a wall.
The New York Post reports Colin McNally, 58, who teaches Physical Education and is the Boys Varsity Tennis coach at Benjamin N. Cardozo High School in Bayside, Queens, was arrested Wednesday on school grounds. He has since been fired, and was charged with harassment and endangering the welfare of a child.
According to witnesses, the victim was playing basketball when McNally grabbed the ball from him for an unspecified reason. He began walking the ball to the principal’s office, with the teen in pursuit. After the teen asked McNally to have the ball back, the latter grabbed him by the shirt, slamming him against the wall before throwing him on the ground.
“I pushed a kid against the wall and then I pushed him to the ground,” McNally admitted, according to the complaint obtained by the New York Post.
The student, who is not named because he is a minor, was not hurt as a result of the confrontation.
“These are incredibly disturbing allegations, and Mr. McNally was immediately removed from the classroom away from students, pending the outcome of the investigation,” Department of Education spokesman Nathaniel Styer said in a statement.
