Cape teacher resigns after accusation of assaulting student at football game

A Cape Girardeau teacher accused of assaulting a student at a football game earlier this month has resigned.

Superintendent Jim Welker said junior-high science teacher Roman D. Smith voluntarily tendered his resignation Monday, and the school board accepted it during a closed executive session that night.

Smith’s departure is not expected to affect his classes.

“We will fill in with a long-term sub for the rest of the year,” Welker said.

Smith was placed on administrative leave and charged with two counts of third-degree assault after an incident at a Cape Girardeau Central High School football game Oct. 14.

A student and his mother told Cape Girardeau police officer Brendon Whitlock that Smith, 36, grabbed the boy’s wrist and twisted his arm behind his back during the game.

In a probable-cause statement filed in the case, Whitlock, who was working security at the game, said Smith’s speech was slurred, his eyes were bloodshot and his breath smelled of alcohol.

When questioned, Smith admitted to drinking before coming onto school property, according to the police document.

If Smith had been drinking before the football game, he would have violated school policy, which states, “The Board of Education shall not tolerate the manufacture, use, possession, sale, distribution or being under the influence of controlled substances, alcoholic beverages or unauthorized prescription medications by district employees on any district property. ...

“When it is evident that an employee has consumed alcoholic beverages or controlled substances off school property before or during a district activity, the staff member will not be allowed on school property or to participate in the activity and will be subject to the same disciplinary measures as for possession or consumption on district property. ... Any employee who violates this policy will be subject to disciplinary action, which may include suspension, termination and referral for prosecution.

“Employees may be required to satisfactorily participate in rehabilitation programs.”

The officer stated in his report the student and some of his friends were trying to access the student section at the game when Smith told the juvenile he couldn’t be there after missing Smith’s third-period class that day.

Although the victim tried to explain he had been at a doctor’s appointment, Smith grabbed his wrist and twisted it behind his back after the boy held up four fingers to indicate returning to school for fourth hour, Whitlock wrote.

Smith, who had taught at the junior high since 2013, resigned from a teaching job at the high school in 2012 after being placed on administrative leave.

He had been accused of choking a student to unconsciousness in a downtown parking lot, which Smith said he did in self-defense.

A jury found Smith not guilty of third-degree assault in that case, but students who testified at the time said they believed Smith had been drinking.

ljones@semissourian.com

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205 Caruthers Ave., Cape Girardeau, Mo.