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8-year-old suffers hearing loss after PE teacher throws ball at head

By Chana Elgin and Rare.us

File photo of dodgeball game preparations 

By Chana Elgin and Rare.us

LA PORTE, TX — An 8-year-old Texas student said his physical education coach threw a ball at his face, causing him to temporarily suffer hearing loss.

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College Park Elementary student Lawrence Batiste said the coach wanted to teach him a lesson during a game of dodgeball on Feb. 8.

In an interview with KTRK, Lawrence said the teacher told him, "Now you see how it feels to hit somebody in the face with a ball."

“We were just playing dodgeball to knock down the cones and that's when he hit me,” the third grader said. 
A doctor told Loretta Houston, Batiste’s mother, that the hearing loss in his left ear could last up to a week. 
“He said, 'I ain't know where hit me at because my whole head was hurting,'” Houston told KTRK.  “He said, 'The coach walked over there to me and said, 'Now you see how it feels to bust somebody in the face with the ball.''” 

Houston told KTRK that during a Feb. 13 phone call in which the coach offered an apology, the coach admitted to throwing the ball at her son after he first targeted another student.

Houston said she felt the apology wasn't sincere.

In a statement provided by La Porte Independent School District, the school district said a foam-core ball was involved in the incident, which the district called "inexcusable" and "unaccepable."

La Porte ISD said it is cooperating with the Deer Park Police Department’s request for video footage.

No charges have been filed yet, but a complaint was made to the Police Department, and the police department is investigating the incident.

A number of Texas school districts have banned dodgeball. La Porte ISD placed the coach on administrative leave with pay.

Read the school district's full release on the situation here.

See more on the story at KTRK.

Cox Media Group

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