Teacher punched student at least twice in lunchroom attack, witness says

DECATUR, Ga. — Police have arrested a DeKalb County math teacher who is accused of punching one of his students in the face.

Investigators say it happened Friday inside the cafeteria at Miller Grove Middle School in Decatur.

Channel 2's Michael Seiden has learned that the alleged victim's family is preparing to hire an attorney.

"I can’t believe that he did it because he, like, choked him. I was, like, 'Bro! Oh, my God!'" a witness told Seiden. "And then he slammed him. Um, he slammed him on the table."

Seiden spoke with the witnesses outside the school Monday. We are not identifying them because they are minors.

The two seventh-grade students said they couldn’t believe it when a teacher allegedly attacked one of their friends inside the cafeteria.

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“Why would he do something like that?” Seiden asked the witnesses.

“I guess he (the teacher) was mad because he (the student) was walking out of the lunchroom and he wasn’t supposed to,” one of the witnesses said.

The teacher has been identified as Kendrick Monroe, 45. He is accused of pushing the 12-year-old student before slamming him onto a table.

"After he slammed him on the table, the cop stopped it and he kept going. He (Monroe) punched him (the student) in the chin twice," one of the witnesses said.

Police arrested Monroe on Monday afternoon, charging him with one misdemeanor count of simple battery.

Seiden stopped by the teacher's home. Monroe did not want to speak about what happened when Seiden knocked on his door.

District officials say Monroe will remain on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.

It's still unclear what sparked the alleged attack.

Seiden tried to obtain the incident report, but the district told him that it takes two business days to produce it.

The student returned to school on Monday.

Seiden talked with the student and his uncle and said the boy appeared to be in good spirits and had no visible injuries.

The uncle said he and the boy did not want to go on camera until they had spoken with their attorney.

Cox Media Group