Great Mills H.S.
Great Mills, MD — A Great Mills High School student has been charged with assaulting a teacher. Taquan Berry, who turned 18 on Oct. 22, was charged with second-degree assault and disturbing the operation of a school in connection with an alleged incident Nov. 4 at the school.
According to charging documents filed by Cpl. Kristi Nelson of the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office, two teachers were on lunch duty when they observed Berry walking towards the cafeteria talking on his cell phone. The teachers asked Berry to stop entering the cafeteria door but he opened it anyway. One of the teachers attempted to close the door at which time Berry allegedly pushed the victim away from him.
The teacher then told police “the defendant started cursing her and she believed he was going to punch her so she backed away.” The charging documents go on to say that the second teacher and another staff member tried to intervene and Berry got in that teachers face and “threatened her.”
The first teacher confirmed that Berry “had elbowed her in her stomach on her left side.”
After the incident Berry walked away and left the school. The investigating officer got a confirmation of the incident from a juvenile witness.
According to St. Mary’s County District Court the charging papers had not yet served on Berry by the morning of Monday, Nov. 9. He is scheduled to appear in district court for a preliminary inquiry Dec. 18.
Maximum penalty for second-degree assault is 10 years in prison and/or a fine a $2,500. Maximum penalty for disturbing the operation of a school is six months and/or a $2,500 fine.
Contact Dick Myers at dick.myers@thebaynet.com