In November, a video of a Stockton Unified School District physical education teacher dragging a 14-year-old student into a pool went viral.
The video, said to have shot by another student, was recorded in August.
That teacher, Denny Peterson of Edison High School, is seen in the video grabbing the girl by her limbs. The girl screams “no” repeatedly and also tells onlookers her top is falling down.
Peterson, described as a 10-year employee of SUSD by various news outlets, is also connected to Delta College as an assistant base- ball coach for the Mustangs.
Since the 90-second footage showing Peterson went viral, SUSD put him on paid administrative leave.
Initially, Peterson had been reassigned to another school.
Gilbert Somera, the Stockton-based attorney for the teenage girl’s family, said the girl’s mother came forward because she was upset more hadn’t been done after the incident.
Since then Peterson has been charged with corporal injury to a child.
As late as Nov. 21, Peterson was listed as the assistant baseball coach on the Delta Athletics website. The biography has since been removed from the Delta Athletics website.
As of Dec. 10, Peterson’s teaching biography was still up for the Delta College website as Kinesiology instructor within Humanities, Social Science, Education, Kinesiology and Athletics department. He’s listed as an Associate Adjunct Professor who teaches health education courses.
Delta Athletic Director Daryl Arroyo declined comment. A representative of the Human Resources Department also declined comment.
The Collegian submitted a California Public Records Act Request on Dec. 2 asking for specifics on Peterson’s hiring date and current status as an employee, salary and titles held.
The request was submitted to Human Resources for response. Delta College is still within it’s 10-days to reply as of newspaper publishing.
In his now-removed profile from the Athletics department website, Peterson is described as working at University of the
Pacific for three years before beginning his tenure, in 2005, at Delta College. His job was coaching pitchers.
“He has established himself as one of the top pitching coaches in California Community Col- lege Baseball,” according to the now removed biography.
Somera said he hopes the incident leads to conversations be- tween parents, their children and peers to find solutions to how an event such as this can be avoided.
As of late November, the family hadn’t sought legal recourse in the case, Somera said in a previous interview.
