La Porte coach charged after throwing dodgeball at student

Friday, February 17, 2017
Teacher accused of pelting student with dodge ball
Lawrence Batiste sits inside his living room while talking to a reporter about being hit by a dodgeball.

LA PORTE, TX (KTRK) -- A La Porte P.E. coach is now charged with injury to a child after being accused of throwing a dodgeball at a student.

ORIGINAL REPORT: Teacher accused of pelting student with dodgeball

Ryan Lee Lemmon was arrested and held on a $5,000 bail Friday.

Lemmon is accused of hitting an 8-year-old student during class. That student was identified to ABC13 as Lawrence Batiste by his mother.

Police went to the school to investigate and talked to Lemmon, who said he joined the dodgeball game after another student complained. That student said Batiste threw a dodgeball at another student's face, according to court documents.

Lemmon then threw a ball in Batiste's direction, hitting him. Lemmon admitted he had no reason for throwing the ball except he was upset, the documents state.

Police were able to see video footage of the incident and a phone call Lemmon made, admitting to the incident, police said.