Home Scandal and Gossip Atlanta school teacher charged with battery after shoving 14 yr old student

Atlanta school teacher charged with battery after shoving 14 yr old student

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Marquette Thinn Salem HS teacher
Marquette Thinn Salem HS teacher charged with battery shoving Atlanta teen student. Images via police bookings and social media.
Marquette Thinn Salem HS teacher
Marquette Thinn Salem HS teacher charged with battery shoving Atlanta teen student. Image via police bookings.

Marquette Thinn Salem HS teacher charged with battery for shoving 14yr old student. Rockdale Georgia school district confirms educator is no longer employed. 

‘Sit your ugly a** down’. An Atlanta high school teacher was charged with battery after video surveillance showed the educator shoving a student to the ground during an argument during class on Monday. The incident led to school officials saying that the teacher is no longer with the school district.  

Marquette Thinn, 44, was hired in August 2020 as a social studies teacher, was seen on video (see below) pushing a 14-year-old male student as the teen tried to leave the classroom at Salem High School in Conyers, Georgia, roughly 30 miles away from Atlanta, according to CNN.

The 39-second cell phone footage shows Thinn as he yells at the freshman before the teen decides to walk out of the classroom. 

‘I ain’t say s*** to you,’ the student is heard saying as he gathers his things. 

As the student, who was not named, walks towards the door, Thinn can be heard cursing at the teen before demanding that he ‘sit down somewhere.’ 

‘Sit your ugly a** down,’

‘Sit your ugly a** down,’ Thinn yells before pushing the teen to the floor, leading to a reaction of awkward laughter and shock from the other students. 

Thinn was dismissed a day after Tuesday’s incident, said Cindy Ball, a spokesperson for the Rockdale school district on Wednesday. 

School officials did not reveal whether he quit or was fired. 

The video left students and parents stunned and outraged.   

Rockdale County Sheriff’s Investigator J. Figuerora told Fox 5 Atlanta that interviews with Thinn and the teen following the incident have since shed light on what what occurred both before and after the video was taken by a student that morning. 

‘When I first did see it, it looked pretty clear that the student was assaulted by the teacher,’ Figuerora said. 

‘Yes, the student was pushed to the ground.’ 

Marquette Thinn Salem HS teacher
Marquette Thinn Salem HS teacher charged with battery for shoving 14yr old student. Image via screengrab.

Conduct not reflecting district values

However, Figuerora insisted the teacher did not strike the student, while adding that both the teacher and student acknowledged it was just a shove.

‘It wasn’t a strike or like a closed fist strike, but I know it was hard to see. In reference to that, both the teacher and the student acknowledged it was just a push and nothing more than that.’

Regardless, officials with the school district said that Thinn’s did not conduct himself professionally, leading to the ending of his employment from the school as well as misdemeanor criminal charges levied against him.

‘We work diligently to investigate all allegations of employee misconduct. Rockdale County Public Schools (RCPS) expects all employees to conduct themselves professionally and ethically to provide a positive teaching and learning environment for students and staff,’ Ball said.

The episode led to the student victim complaining of minor wrist injuries. Figuerora says the incident offers a lesson about teachers and students keeping their cool and being respectful.

Thinn was charged with simple battery after turning himself into authorities on Wednesday afternoon, according to officials.

He has since been released from jail after posting a $2,000 bond, the sheriff’s office told CNN.   

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