A PE teacher from Sochaux (Doubs) was accused by a student of having punched him in December 2024. The adult was completely cleared by the courts. At the time of the events, the sports teacher had been widely supported by his colleagues.
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A sports teacher was accused of physical violence by a 13-year-old student at school Jouffroy d'Abbans college in Sochaux. The latter went to file a complaint, accompanied by his mother on December 5, 2024. He explained that he had been hit by his PE teacher, after an altercation concerning inappropriate clothing for sports practice. The schoolboy then spoke of “several punches to the face, about six or seven” hit by his homeroom teacher. He went to have the injuries noted by a doctor and a dentist.
The teacher went to the police station and was then placed in police custody for 24 hours. A situation “unprecedented”, “unheard of”Boris Benabid, SNEP-FSU union representative, told us before expressing his indignation. This measure also deeply shocked the person concerned's colleagues. They had organized a “dead college” operation, refusing to teach classes.
The versions of the student and the teacher were profoundly different and the affair had taken on such proportions that the Montbéliard prosecutor ended up summoning the press. “It appears from the first hearings that although they witnessed a verbal altercation with strong words and mutual informality, no [élève interrogé] does not corroborate the version of the punches”had informed the prosecutor for whom “All [semblait] agree with the teacher's statements” described as “invested, caring and attentive to his students”.
Paul-Édouard Lallois, cited by our colleagues from Ici Belfort-Montbéliard (formerly France Bleu), confirmed on January 15, 2025 that the complaint concerning the professor was closed without further action.“absence d’infraction”. The examinations carried out by the forensic doctor could only invalidate the student's statements. The teacher did not strike the schoolboy in any way. He is completely whitewashed. The student's family can nevertheless appeal this decision. For his part, the professor, inevitably psychologically impacted by this affair, can choose to file a complaint for defamation.
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