ST. THOMAS — A former mathematics teacher at Bertha C. Boschulte Middle School is facing criminal charges and a federal civil lawsuit stemming from a 2024 classroom incident in which he allegedly slapped a 13-year-old student across the left side of his head, rupturing the boy’s eardrum and causing hearing loss.
Joseph Ofori is charged in V.I. Superior Court with child abuse and third-degree assault, with simple assault and battery listed as a lesser-included offense. Separately, the boy and his mother have filed a six-count complaint in District Court against Ofori and BCB Principal Terrence Corbett, seeking damages over the alleged assault and the school’s response afterward.
The federal complaint places the incident on November 15, 2024, shortly before dismissal. It alleges that an eighth-grade student was sitting in Ofori’s mathematics class at approximately 2:20 p.m. when a female classmate asked him for the time. The boy removed his cellphone from his pocket, checked the time and told her.
According to the civil complaint, Ofori directed the student to hand over the cellphone and the boy complied. The lawsuit alleges that while the student remained seated behind his desk, Ofori struck him with an open hand on the left side of his head, directly over his ear. The complaint says the student did not stand, raise a hand toward Ofori or strike the teacher before or after the blow.
The police investigation contains differing accounts of the moments immediately preceding the slap.
The student told detectives that Ofori approached as he removed the phone to check the time, grabbed the device and struck him in the area of his left ear. A classmate provided another account, telling investigators that Ofori demanded the phone, the student did not immediately turn it over and a tug-of-war followed before Ofori slapped him. She described the slap as loud enough to sound throughout the classroom and said the boy held his face afterward while some redness became visible.
Ofori, interviewed by police in January 2025, offered another version. According to the affidavit in support of his arrest warrant, he said the student had been disruptive and using the phone during instructional time, prompting him to try to confiscate it. Ofori told investigators that the student eventually slammed the phone forcefully into his hand, triggering an immediate reaction in which he raised his free hand and slapped the boy.
Despite the differing descriptions of the cellphone encounter, the police affidavit and civil complaint agree on the central allegation: Ofori struck the student with an open hand.
The criminal affidavit says Ofori also acknowledged during his police interview that teachers are prohibited from physically disciplining students. He told investigators he had been suspended and subjected to several disciplinary sanctions because of the incident.
After being struck, the student asked Ofori what he had done, according to the police affidavit, but received no answer. Classmates expressed concern and accompanied the boy toward the school’s administrative office, insisting that he report what had happened.
The police affidavit says an administrator told investigators that two or three students arrived at the office shouting for the boy to explain what had occurred. One of them reported that Ofori had slapped him. The administrator said he instructed the student to sit down and directed office staff to contact his parents before leaving the matter for the principal to address.
The federal complaint provides a more critical account of the school’s response. It alleges that after the boy reported being struck, no school employee summoned the school nurse, called 911 or notified law enforcement, and that he was instead directed to go to his school bus.
The lawsuit says Mr. Corbett learned that afternoon that Ofori had struck the student in the ear and that the boy’s face was red. According to the complaint, the principal contacted Ofori, who confirmed an incident had occurred and, in words attributed to Mr. Corbett’s written account, “expressed that he did hit” the child.
The Department of Education subsequently prepared an incident report documenting the matter, according to the lawsuit.
The complaint further alleges that Ofori telephoned the boy’s mother that afternoon and repeatedly apologized. When she specifically asked whether he had slapped her son, the lawsuit says Ofori answered yes. He reportedly asked to meet with her, but she declined.
When the student arrived at his bus stop, his mother found the left side of his face swollen and red, according to the complaint. He complained of pain in his left ear and difficulty hearing, prompting her to take him to Schneider Regional Medical Center.
Emergency-room records cited in the lawsuit identify the reason for the visit as a perforated left eardrum. The boy was given medication and instructed to follow up with a specialist.
Police subsequently investigated the incident as aggravated assault and battery.
The boy was examined three days later by an ear, nose and throat specialist. According to medical information detailed in the civil complaint, the left tympanic membrane had a central perforation affecting approximately 50 to 60 percent of its surface, while the right eardrum remained intact. Testing also documented conductive hearing loss in the left ear.
The injury improved over time but did not heal immediately. At a December 13 follow-up, the perforation had decreased to approximately 25 percent. When the student returned on January 6, 2025, approximately one-quarter of the membrane remained perforated. The complaint says he continued to experience ear pain and tenderness and reported discomfort involving the left jaw when moving it.
The police probable-cause affidavit summarizes the medical injury somewhat differently, stating that evaluation determined approximately 40 percent of the eardrum was damaged, resulting in hearing loss.
The civil complaint says the boy remained under specialist care for nearly two months. Medical bills for treatment between November 15 and November 18 totaled $1,223.22, according to the filing, with additional expenses associated with later specialist appointments and medication.
Following the incident, Ofori did not return to BCB Middle School, according to the civil complaint, which says another teacher was assigned to his class. He was also reportedly instructed not to return to campus and to prepare for a meeting involving his union representative and the school.
The criminal case emerged from a Special Victims Unit investigation led by VIPD Detective Deneisha Walters. The probable-cause filing says investigators concluded there was sufficient cause to charge Ofori with child abuse, third-degree assault and simple assault and battery.
One evidentiary issue is disclosed directly in the police affidavit: Ofori’s January 10, 2025 interview had been recorded, but that recording was subsequently lost. Detective Walters stated that the version of Ofori’s remarks included in the probable-cause affidavit was instead drawn from a supplemental report prepared after the interview by another detective.
A Superior Court arrest warrant authorized Ofori’s arrest on the three offenses and set bail at $60,000.
The federal civil case, filed September 29, names Ofori and Mr. Corbett in their individual capacities. The boy’s claims against Ofori include an alleged violation of his Fourteenth Amendment right to bodily integrity, battery, assault and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Mr. Corbett faces a separate claim for negligent failure to obtain medical care for a child in the school’s custody. The complaint alleges that despite learning within minutes that a teacher had struck the boy in the head and that his face was red, the principal did not summon the nurse, call 911 or notify law enforcement before the child left school.
The student’s mother additionally asserts a claim against both defendants for medical expenses and loss of services resulting from the alleged injuries.
The lawsuit asks the District Court to award the student compensatory damages for physical injury, pain and suffering, emotional distress and medical care; compensate his mother for medical expenses and other losses; and impose punitive damages against Ofori. The plaintiffs also seek pre- and post-judgment interest, costs and attorneys’ fees.
No response to the civil complaint had been filed as of press time. Ofori’s next criminal court appearance is scheduled for October 16.
