T or C teacher assaulted, charged

TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES, N.M. (KRQE) - Two boys assaulted substitute teacher Brenda Price earlier this semester at a local high school. However, it was Price who ended up in handcuffs as the target of the local District Attorney’s Office.

The assault occurred back in September at Hot Springs High School, when one student grabbed substitute teacher Brenda Price in a bear-hug, pinning her arms at her sides. Another boy then forced a moth down the front of her shirt.

Price’s son later found out about the assault and, in retaliation, kicked his car, according to a police report.

All three boys were charged in the case. So how did Price end up as an alleged criminal?

Price told News 13 that after the assault occurred, she thought the two boys who assaulted her had been punished enough because they’d been expelled. So she said she met with the grandmother of the boy whose car her son kicked, and they each agreed to drop the charges against the boys on both sides.

She said she offered to pay for the damages to the car, though no agreement about money was ever made.

Price said she then wrote one letter for herself and one letter for Mary and Epifanio Torres – the grandparents – each asking that the charges against the boys be dropped. Price then gave the letters to the local District Attorney’s Office.

And the next thing she knew, she was in jail, charged with “compounding a crime.”  The charge is similar to bribery or intimidating a witness.

Mary Torres told News 13 she thought Price was a nice woman and that she didn’t feel any pressure to sign the letter. She said she just wanted the charges dropped on both sides and the case to go away.

But District Attorney Clint Wellborn said his office filed the charge because Price offered money to fix the car and initiated the process of trying to drop the charges.

“If we allow them to handle it on their own basically we have the beginning of vigilantism, where they’re basically taking the law into their own hands,” Wellborn said.

Wellborn said his office wasn’t being overly aggressive by filing a charge rarely, if ever, seen on New Mexico court dockets. However, he said he probably won’t push for jail time for Price – who has no criminal record – though she could face up to a $1,000 fine.

Price had to post a $1,000 bond to get out of jail and is awaiting her next court appearance next month.