Teen girl faces charges for throwing baby carrot at teacher

HENRICO COUNTY, VA (KTRK) -- A teenager is facing juvenile assault and battery charges for allegedly throwing a weapon at a teacher.

That weapon was a baby carrot.

Aliya Nigro, 14, has been suspended for a month from her middle school in Virginia, reports WTVR-TV. She says she threw the carrot at a teacher in the hallway as a joke, but she hit the teacher in the forehead.

School officials didn't find it funny and had her slapped with assault charges.

"I don't understand the whole thing. She was playing. Yes, it happened, but if they had called and said that she got a couple days of in school or even a day or two out of school, but this has gone beyond that, we got court, she's charged," said Karrie May, Aliya's mother.

It's up to a judge to decide what kind of punishment Aliya will get. Legal experts tell WTVR-TV they don't think criminal charges will stick.

"This could go before a judge and there could be sufficient evidence to find her guilty, but I don't think it's something a judge would want to find her guilty of," said legal expert Todd Stone. "They may offer her counseling, sort of a carrot at the end of a stick."