Teacher Arrested for Punching Student Gets Over $48K in GoFundMe Donations

More than $48,000 has been donated to a Los Angeles music teacher who was arrested for repeatedly punching a student last week, the Los Angeles Times reports. The Friday fight between 64-year-old Marston Riley and a student at Maywood Academy High School ended with the arrest of Riley on the “suspicion of child abuse.” Cecilia Diaz Jimenez, a former Maywood Academy employee, started the GoFundMe page to enable Riley to “pay any fines, fees and lawyers,” the newspaper reported. “Be mindful that the school district is looking at dismissing him and I would not doubt if the student’s parents are looking into pressing criminal charges,” Jimenez wrote on the GoFundMe page she started. By Monday evening, 1,955 people had donated. Cellphone video of the fight reportedly shows the student swearing and calling Riley the N-word after Riley tells him to leave the room for wearing the wrong uniform. At one point, the student is seen throwing a basketball at him. Riley is then seen punching the student and the fight escalates until the student is pulled out of the room. According to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, the student was treated for “moderate injuries” at a hospital and was released. Authorities said Riley was released Saturday after posting $50,000 bail and is scheduled to be arraigned on Nov. 30.