COLERAIN TOWNSHIP, Ohio — The 16-year-old Colerain High School student who assaulted his 60-year-old teacher on Jan. 4 will serve an indefinite sentence at the Department of Youth Services after appearing in court Friday.
A judge in court said the teenager will serve a minimum of a year.
"I don't think this is fair. I think he should be held, definitely until he's 21 because my life has changed. I'm never going to get back what I had before," Sheri Wooldridge, the teacher, said after court Friday as she started to cry.
The assault originally took place on January 4 at around 2:15 p.m. Police said school resource officers were alerted that a teacher had been assaulted by a student in a classroom.
Hamilton County Prosecutor Melissa Powers said the teacher was punched multiple times in the head causing injuries so severe her skull cap had to be removed "in order to prevent brain damage due to swelling."
According to prosecutors, the teacher needed a lot of treatment and spent around 25 days in the hospital after the assault.
The teen was charged with felonious assault and was held in the Hamilton County Juvenile Detention Center.
In body camera video from the moments police spoke with the teen, the student told officers he'd begun freaking out minutes after hitting a vape in the school's bathroom.
However, in court on Feb. 26, toxicology results showed the teen barely had any traceable drugs in his system — only a small amount of THC, said Hamilton County Prosecutor Melissa Powers.
"The results are he wouldn't have even been impaired," said Powers. "There was some level — a trace amount — of THC metabolite in his blood and his urine, but not enough that would even impair him to operate a motor vehicle. It was such, such a small amount."
If the teen's toxicology results had shown he was unwittingly dosed with something before his alleged attack on a teacher, it's possible it could have changed whether his case would be tried as an adult or juvenile case.
The teen admitted to the assault at a hearing held on April 19 to determine whether he would be tried as an adult or a juvenile. Due to the juvenile's plea of admission, he was not tried as an adult.
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