Conservative Actor: Teacher Threatened Police Action & Questioned My Son’s ‘Mental State’ Over Photo of a BB Gun at School
Mar. 4, 2013 2:50pm
Erica Ritz
(Photo: Joseph C Phillips)
Actor, entrepreneur, and writer Joseph C. Phillips, best known for his roles as Martin Kendall on “The Cosby Show” and Justus Ward on “General Hospital,” says his son’s school threatened police action after the student showed his friends a picture of his new BB gun. They also reportedly questioned his “mental state.”
Phillips explained for radio host Tony Katz on Saturday that California social studies teacher James DeLarme was walking by when he saw Phillips’ son and his friends looking at the picture. The 15-year-old has been working part time and chose to buy the Airsoft BB gun with his earnings, his dad said, and wanted to show his new purchase to his friends.
The teacher “snatched” the camera out of his hands, and when the teen asked when he would get it back, the teacher reportedly responded: “That’s for the police to decide.”
“It’s just a picture, Tony!” Phillips told the radio host. “There were no threats involved; there was no horseplay, monkey business happening at the time. It was my son’s camera; he shows it to his friends, who are all very interested and excited about it as well. The teacher happens by, snatches the camera, and that’s when the real nonsense began…”
The teacher then allegedly took the camera to another teacher, who said she was “disturbed” by the image. After scrolling through the entire memory and returning the camera, the teachers began to question the “mental state” of Phillips’ son, he said.
“Do you have any animosity towards any of your classmates?” the student was reportedly asked. “Are you happy?”
“Now, this guy…listen, at this point, I’m not sure he’s qualified to teach social studies,” Phillips interjected. “He certainly isn’t qualified to psychoanalyze my kid.”
What’s worse — Phillips says he didn’t find out about the incident until roughly five days later, when his son told him.
When he sent a letter of complaint to the school’s principal, a vice principal allegedly responded in defense of the teachers, saying they did the right thing for the safety of the other students.
Perhaps most alarming, Phillips added, is that “not one person” at the school thought to inform the parents of the altercation.
“If Mr. DeLarme truly believed my son presented a danger, both my wife and I should have been notified immediately!” Phillips pointed out.
Phillips concluded with a word on how “ridiculousness is passing for common sense” in today’s schools, adding that it seems like anyone who has a gun is guilty by default.
“?Somebody’s got to have some sense,” he reiterated.
Here’s audio of the entire interview:
theblaze.com |
