Girl dragged by teacher into pool recounts incident

STOCKTON, Calif. — A high-school freshman seen on video being dragged toward a pool by a physical education teacher said the teacher seemed obsessed with her getting completely wet.

"I wasn't going all the way under water to get my hair wet,and he wanted my hair wet. He was doing hand motions saying he'd splash me. He wanted kids to jump in where I was at to get me wet," the 14-year-old Sandra Garcia said in an interview with KXTV-Sacramento.

Another student recorded the struggle that ensued on her cellphone. The teacher, Denny Peterson, is seen for more than 90 seconds grabbing and trying to force Garcia into the pool.

Peterson was placed on paid leave shortly after the August incident but then was eventually assigned to another Stockton school. That's when Garcia and her mother spoke to an attorney and then to the TV station.

"As time goes by, I find out he's working at an elementary school where girls are more vulnerable and younger and he's working. I feel like it's being shoved under the carpet, like they don't think it was a big deal what happened to my daughter," Susie Garcia, Sandra's mother, said.

Since the August incident surfaced and after KXTV notified Stockton Unified School District officials that a misdemeanor case was filed against Peterson, the 46-year-old teacher was placed on paid leave a second time.

Peterson is being accused of corporal injury to a child. He didn't respond to a request to be interviewed.

District officials repeated Friday what they said Thursday about the situation. They claim the district has acted "appropriately" in how Peterson was handled.