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Breaking: No charges filed in Kopachuck Middle School case
[November 07, 2012]

Breaking: No charges filed in Kopachuck Middle School case


Nov 06, 2012 (The Peninsula Gateway (Gig Harbor - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- No charges will be filed in the case of a Kopachuck Middle School teacher caught on video in a possible bullying incident, Pierce County Prosecutor Mark Lindquist announced this afternoon.



The video captured the teacher, John Rosi, wrestling with a 13-year-old student while the rest of the class looked on. After the video was released in September, the Peninsula School District placed Rosi on administrative leave.

"In the Prosecutor's Office, we seek justice," Lindquist said in a release. "Sometimes justice requires that we decline to prosecute. While this is unacceptable conduct in a classroom, it's not criminal conduct under the law." The investigation into the incident began in July, after the student's family's lawyer contacted the Pierce County Sheriff's Department. The investigation was turned over to the prosecutor's office in late September.


The student's family never disclosed the incident as a crime, which led the prosecutor's office to believe they did not think a crime had been committed, the office's release stated. The release said that the investigation was instigated by the family's civil attorney.

Deputy Prosecutor Jared Ausserer, the team chief of the Special Assault Unit, led the review of the case and concluded that there was no basis for criminal charges.

___ (c)2012 The Peninsula Gateway (Gig Harbor, Wash.) Visit The Peninsula Gateway (Gig Harbor, Wash.) at www.thenewstribune.com/gigharbor Distributed by MCT Information Services

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