The teacher has since completed a 10-week anger management course and retired.
Charges against the California teacher seen in a shocking video pummeling a student have been dismissed.
Parents rallied around 65-year-old music teacher Marston Riley, who can be seen throwing a punch at the ninth grade student in a November 2018 video. In the footage, a student apparently talked back to him and got physical and Riley was then seen clobbering the kid over and over with his cellphone.
On Tuesday, authorities announced he is in the clear. He was initially charged with corporal injury to a child, but after he pleaded not guilty in January, the D.A’s office dropped the charge, citing the teacher's age and that he has no criminal record.
The fight at the Los Angeles high school started after the teacher reprimanded the student for failing to wear his required school uniform. The 14-year-old then hurled racial slurs, swearing repeatedly at the teacher and slamming a basketball at him.
The teacher received incredible support from the community after the footage surfaced.
A GoFundMe for Riley has received $192,000 and is still collecting donations to cover the beloved teachers legal expenses and bail.
The teacher spoke out on Facebook, saying, “I want to thank everyone who prayed for us, who sent us messages, who supported us on the GoFundMe page.”
He's also telling his side of the story for the first time.
“When that camera started that was the second time he had come into the classroom,” he claimed. “I told him you need to leave. I told him one more time you need to leave, I swung at him, I didn’t want to hurt him. He had been calling me obscenities and the ‘N’ word way before the camera had started. At one point of the altercation, he tried to grab my legs to take me down.”
Riley has since completed a 10-week anger management course and was forced into early retirement from his teaching job, according to the district attorney.
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