Assault at Diller-Odell High School

DATE & TIME:            11-16-2016 / 1243 hours

LOCATION:                Diller-Odell High School, 506 Perry Street, Odell, Nebraska

OFFENSE:                  Third Degree Assault

CASE #:                    2016-6234

The Gage County Sheriff’s Office was notified by the Diller-Odell High School of an incident that occurred at Diller-Odell High School on Tuesday, 11-16-2016 at approximately 1243 hours.

An investigator from the Sheriff’s Office interviewed school officials, students, and spoke with several parents at the school last week. Several middle school students state they were in the Ag classroom on the lower level of Diller-Odell School on Tuesday, 11-16-2016, shortly after lunch.  The students stated one student either leaned against or was moving a desk in the classroom, which caused the legs of the desk to squeak on the floor.  The teacher, who was in the classroom at the time, told the student to stop moving the desk and, while standing behind the student, reached out and slapped the student on the right side of his face with an open hand.  The victim described the slap as being a “medium” type of force.

None of the students recorded the incident and the school video security system did not capture the incident on video.

The teacher, who was not present at the school when the investigator interviewed the students, came to the Sheriff’s Office on Monday, 11-21-2016, to be interviewed. He admitted to striking the student in the face, describing it as a “light slap”, similar to the force used to swat a mosquito.

The teacher, 59-year-old Ronald D. Rickstrew of rural Diller, Nebraska, was issued a citation for third degree assault and released. The school administrators at Diller-Odell High School were notified of the issuance of a citation in-lieu-of a custodial arrest to Rickstrew.

Sheriff Millard “Gus” Gustafson #903

Investigator T. Hanson #90310