Substitute teacher charged with child abuse

Sarasota County Sheriff's Office detectives arrested a substitute teacher yesterday for going on an angry rampage in which he punched two boys and pushed down a girl.

William Amory, 55, was teaching a second-grade class Jan. 6. He was having trouble operating an ActivBoard, an electronic teaching tool. Investigators said he threw the remote control and began cursing. Students tried to help him, but he became angrier.

Detectives said Amory punched a 7-year-old boy and an 8-year-old boy and pushed a 7-year-old girl backward into a chair.

One boy was punched twice in the stomach so hard that he vomited in the classroom. The other boy had to go to the hospital for treatment of a chest contusion.

Amory was charged with three counts of child abuse.

Contact Robin Roy at [email protected].