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UTAH COUNTY, Utah -- The Utah County Sheriff's Office cited a physical education teacher at Rockwell Charter High School in Eagle Mountain Thursday morning after the sheriff's office said he assaulted a student in his class.
Anthony Chidester, 40, faces one count of child abuse. Surveillance video and student cellphone video show what unfolded in the gym and hallway.
In the video, Chidester is seen grabbing a 14-year old student, pushing the student against a wall, then throwing the student onto the floor. Others rush in and attempt to diffuse the situation.
Student Dillan Bunker, one of the victim's classmates, said it started when a girl in his PE class got a phone call.
"The teacher grabbed for the phone and elbowed her in the face," Bunker said. " thought it was on purpose, and he stood up and was like, 'Hey don't do that.'"
Bunker said the kids went on to play basketball. When they were putting the balls away, things escalated between Chidester and the student.
"He's dribbling the ball, right, and the teacher goes, 'Give it to me. And stop dribbling it,'" Bunker recounted. " goes, 'I'm putting it away, like you said.' And he goes, 'Stop dribbling it.' So puts it in the closet. And the teacher grabs him, flips him around, into like a little hallway aisle thing."
The videos, recorded at 9:10 in the morning, show what happened from that point, and as Bunker described: "The teacher grabbed him, slammed him against the wall. Then he picked up, slammed on the floor."
Other students ran to the hallway.
"The whole class is trying to get off. Trying to help , but the teacher just lost his cool and flipped out on ," Bunker said.
Rockwell Charter High School said they fired Chidester, and gave statements to the Utah County Sheriff's Office.
Sergeant Spencer Cannon with the Utah County Sheriff's Office said Chidester admitted what he did and acknowledged it was inappropriate.
Cannon said the student was bruised and scraped in the incident, but otherwise physically OK.
Anthony Chidester sent Fox 13 the following statement Thursday evening: