PRINCETON, Minnesota — A former teacher pleaded guilty Tuesday to third-degree assault after video surveillance showed her throwing a hockey stick and hitting a student in the mouth earlier this year, according to court records.
Kimberly Neubauer was charged back in July in connection to the incident on March 29, 2022 at Princeton Primary School in Mille Lacs County. Neubauer's sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 23, 2023.
According to the criminal complaint, Princeton Police received a report from the Minnesota Department of Education about an incident where a child under the age of 13 was injured by a teacher. Surveillance video showed the student toss a hockey stick into a pile of other sticks, and then a woman, identified by officials to be Neubauer, is then seen picking up the stick from the pile, and then "forcefully" tossing the stick toward the child. The complaint goes on to say that the child was hit in the mouth.
Dental records indicated that the child's upper-right front baby tooth was knocked out by a hockey stick, court documents show. The records also showed bruising in the area of the injury.
Following the incident, the Princeton Public Schools District placed Neubauer on administrative leave while they investigated the allegations. Officials with the district later placed Neubauer on an "unpaid leave of absence" on April 8, 2022 for the remainder of the school year. Then on June 3, 2022, Neubauer was no longer an employee of the district, according to school officials.
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