A teacher who miscarried her baby after being kicked in the stomach breaking up a fight in the Bronx has decided not to press charges against the boys who did it.

According to the New York Post:

The teacher, Lissedia Batista, 27, is refusing to cooperate for fear that the boys, a ninth-grader and an 11th-grader, would wind up entered into the city's criminal-justice system, cops said.

Is that incredibly brave or incredibly stupid? Consider the facts:

The well-liked teacher was rushing to break up a fight between the two boys who were arguing over a chair. One of the boys kicked her in the stomach as he lunged over the chair and sent her tumbling to the floor. She was rushed to the hospital, but it was too late to save her baby.

As much as it makes sense that these children should be punished for what they did, it also makes no sense to ruin the rest of their childhoods over what was likely a tragic accident. Kids fight, hormones and all that. And, from the report, it doesn't look like they intentionally struck the teacher. She was trying to break up the fight and ended up in harm's way.

Described as "high school horseplay," do these actions really warrant these children being sent off to juvenile hall? Clearly the teacher herself knows them better than we do, so if she says no, then I believe her. On the other hand, wow.

Whatever Batista is paid, it's clearly not enough. That is the kind of teacher I want teaching my children someday. She put their happiness and their future ahead of her own. It's hard to imagine what it must feel like to be so full of hope, four months along in your pregnancy, and then to have it be taken away because of your work.

Job hazard? Maybe. But kids will be kids and this sounds more like a tragic accident than a malicious, intentional murder.

Do you think these kids deserve to be punished?

 

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