Conn. Teacher Fired After Yanking Chair From Underneath a Student

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A Connecticut middle school teacher was fired and could face charges after being caught on video violently pulling a chair from underneath a student, sending the child to the floor, WFSB reports

A criminal investigation was launched against David Pfaff, who taught science at Bailey Middle School in West Haven, after a student shot cellphone video of him getting aggressive with another student last week. 

"We escorted that teacher out off campus with other supervisors [and] with others with the Board of Ed, the school resource officer, and now the police department because of that video has begun a criminal investigation," West Haven Police Sgt. David Tammaro told the news station. 

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"I don't think we're going to go into the specific charges until we sit down with a prosecutor and see if it warrants that," Tammaro added. "But we believe it does."

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Pfaff was hired over the summer and was still a probationary employee. 

According to the report, the unidentified student would not listen to the teacher, and instead of calling the office or school security, Pfaff literally took matters into his own hands, pulling the student's chair out from under him by one leg. 

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The student who shot the video showed it to a parent, who then took the matter up with school administration. 

"As soon as we were notified last week of the incident in question, we immediately contacted the appropriate authorities and terminated the teacher. We cannot comment further as the investigation is ongoing and it's also a personnel matter," West Haven Superintendent Neil C. Cavallaro said in a statement Monday. 

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Read more at WFSB