Wilmington school teacher fired after suspected assault of 10-year-old girl

WILMINGTON, DE (WTXF) - A 10-year-old girl tells Fox 29 she is too scared to finish her last three days of fifth grade. Too upset and still recovering from her injuries she claims happened at the hands of her own teacher.

Wearing a sling on her arm, 10-year-old Leairah Lynch describes how she was roughed up by one of the teachers at Wilmington's East Side Charter School.

"He was pulling my arm," Leairah explained. "And yanking me everywhere. Then I sat in the hallway and cried to myself."

The little girl says she was in the principal's office on Tuesday after she got to her classroom three minutes late.

Without a note, she says her teacher refused to let her in class. When she tried to walk through the classroom door a few minutes later, she said the 27-year-old male teacher picked her up and slammed her against a bulletin board.

"He picked me up off my feet and up in the air and took me out in the hallway and pulled my head on a bulletin and slammed my head on it," she said.

Leairah's mother, Johnesha Bailey, says it was her daughter, not the school, who told her about the incident.

"I feel sick. Very sick to my stomach," she told Fox 29.

She took her Leairah to the emergency room of A.I. duPont Hospital for treatment of a bruised elbow. She then went right to Wilmington Police, who are now investigating, including reviewing the schools surveillance video of the incident. The school tells us the teacher, who has only been with the school since January, has been fired.

When reached out to for comment, the CEO of the charter school had the following statement:

"Eastside Charter School recognizes that a positive learning environment is necessary for students to learn and achieve high academic standards. We make all of our decisions with this in mind."

"She deserves and education," Johnesha says of her daughter. "She don't deserve to be swung around like a rag doll at 10-years-old. This is a traumatic experience."

Fox 29 tried to reach the fired teacher for comment by phone and in person, but have yet to receive a response.

Fox 29 is not identifying the teacher since he has not been charged, but sources expect charges to be made tomorrow.