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Professor Shuts Laptop, Arrested for Battery

By Stephanie Rabiner, Esq. on April 08, 2011 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

Krista Bowman is the most infamous student at Valdosta State University.

That's in Georgia, by the way.

Bowman is under fire for pressing charges against assistant professor Frank Rybicki.

He closed her laptop on her fingers while she surfed the web during his class.

The incident in question occurred last week during a Valdosta State Law & Ethics of Media class taught by Frank Rybicki. As is standard procedure in university classrooms, students are not to use the web for non-class related surfing.

Rybicki, who believed that Bowman was breaking this rule, walked up to her and shut her laptop screen, reports the school paper, The Spectator. She says it closed on her hands, injuring her.

After class, the student reported the incident to the university's police department, requesting that it press charges, notes The Spectator.

Frank Rybicki was then arrested and released on $2,500 bail. He has been suspended from his job, is under investigation, and is facing battery charges, reports the Huffington Post.

Criminal battery occurs when a person hits another person.

Technically, because Frank Rybicki caused harm to Krista Bowman's fingers, he battered her. However, there is very little chance that a prosecutor will continue to press charges.

Besides the fact that the incident most likely injured her pride more than her fingers, incidents like these are not what battery law is intended to punish. It's meant to deter violence, not a professor teaching a disrespectful student a lesson.

Students at the school seem to feel the same way. Many are speaking out on The Spectator's website, defending Frank Rybicki.

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