Boy, 12, Stabs Teacher in the Back

A 12-year-old boy was charged with assault with a deadly weapon Tuesday after he allegedly stabbed his 65-year-old sixth-grade teacher in the back as she sat correcting papers at a desk, authorities said.

The boy, a student at Ford Elementary School in East Los Angeles, had been taken to an empty classroom to complete his assignment while his teacher corrected papers, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Lt. John Hooge said.

As she sat with her back to the student, whose name was not released because of his age, the teacher suddenly felt a sharp pain in her back, the lieutenant said. The boy ran from the classroom.

The teacher suffered a 2-inch-deep knife wound requiring 20 stitches. She was not hospitalized. School security officers arrested the student on the playground, where he was sitting holding the knife, investigators said.