Court Opinion

ID: 9726530
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 12:55:20.872504+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:25:28.047823
License: Public Domain

Mr. JUSTICE BURMAN dissenting: I would affirm the convictions. The trial court had an opportunity to judge the credibility of the several witnesses and to evaluate and weigh the evidence, some of which is conflicting. After doing so, it specifically found that the defendant had exceeded his authority in disciplining the two boys. This finding is sustained by the record and should not be disturbed by this court. The record reveals that neither of the Suwe boys was assigned to the defendant, and neither attended any of his classes. On the day of the incident the defendant sent a message to the classroom of each boy requesting that the boy be sent to him. He testified that he did this because the boys had called him profane names in the hallway and had written disparaging remarks about him in the snow near their home. It was undisputed that this conduct had occured at an earlier date and posed no immediate threat to the safety of the defendant’s students or the maintenance of order in his classroom. There was opposing testimony as to what took place after the defendant confronted the two boys. The defendant testified that he spoke to them in front of his class and told them that he was going to write a letter to their mother. Neal Suwe talked back to him and used vulgarity, so he asked both boys to go into the cloakroom. In the cloakroom he attempted to continue their talk, but Neal lunged for the doorway, and the defendant waved a ruler to frighten him. They collided and fell to the floor, after which the defendant took Neal by the arms and shook him. He never hit Neal with the ruler and did not touch Newton at all. The boys testified that the defendant took Newton into the cloakroom and beat him ten or twelve times with the ruler. Following this, he took Neal to the back of the classroom and hit him on the. buttocks and legs. He told them that they would “get it worse” next time if they said anything about the beatings. Mrs. Suwe testified that she examined the boys in the evening and saw that both had bruises on their buttocks and the backs of their legs. She had observed the boys the evening before and had seen no bruises. She ánd her husband photographed the boys to establish the extent of their injuries. These photographs were admitted into evidence and show the bruises and black and blue marks clearly. Mrs. Suwe also testified that she went to school the next morning and complained to the principal. He called in Dr. Sebornik, the District Superintendent, who examined the boys. Dr. Sebornik testified that he saw black and blue marks on the buttocks and thigh of Neal and faint bruises on the buttocks of Newton. He also stated that the defendant told him that he had struck Neal several times with a ruler. I concur in the statement of the majority that a teacher occupies the position of a parent with respect to his students and is privileged to discipline them by inflicting corporal punishment when circumstances warrant it. Obviously such a rule is required if order is to be maintained in classrooms and schools are to fulfill their duty to educate. However, even a parent is liable for excessively punishing his child (Wegener v. People (1890), 36 Ill.App. 164), and tire same decisions that establish the principle that a teacher stands in loco parentis recognize that the resulting authority to effect discipline does not extend to punishment that involves excessive or unwarranted force or that is motivated by malice. See City of Macomb v. Gould (1969), 104 Ill.App.2d 361, 244 N.E.2d 634. In my opinion, the foregoing is sufficient to support the conclusion that the defendant had no authority to discipline the boys, or, in any event, that he maliciously used a degree of force not warranted by the situation. The case clearly presented a question of fact to be resolved by the trial court, which considered the credibility of the witnesses and determined the facts that were actually proved. It is not the province of this court to override the trier of fact in these matters based upon our reading of the transcript, and we should, therefore, affirm the convictions.