A reportedly “mild-mannered” wrestling coach in Connecticut allegedly made an abrupt departure from his easy-going ways and slapped a student-athlete who made a “six-seven” joke at practice.
The “six-seven” meme is a social media trend that has caught on in recent years, in which someone holds their hands out, palms up, and moves each hand up and down in opposite directions.
Steven E. Nelson, a math teacher and head wrestling coach at Connecticut’s Norwich Free Academy, was apparently unmotivated by the amount of effort being put forth by a certain student-athlete who was riding an exercise bike.
Nelson reportedly told the athlete to increase the machine’s speed from 30 rotations per minute to 60 or 70.
“Coach, six-seven,” the student responded, according to the unsealed arrest warrant obtained by CT Insider.
Nelson was arraigned on charges of third-degree assault and risk of injury to a child on April 16. He is due back in court on May 26.
The wrestling coach was placed on administrative paid leave on December 31, one day after the alleged attack.
The arrest warrant claims that the student felt as though the coach hit him with an open hand.
“The student felt pain, had a headache, and his left ear was ringing, it said, and he later was diagnosed with head trauma and a concussion at William W. Backus Hospital in Norwich,” CT Insider reports.
Responding officers say they saw a mark on the alleged victim’s cheek, roughly 1.5 inches by 1.5 inches in size. In the student-athlete’s sworn statement, he claims he told the coach not to touch his face, and that after he started crying, the coach said, “Oh, I got you good, is that why you’re crying?”
In his statement, Nelson claims he merely “tapped” the athlete on the face to refocus him.
An examining neurologist says he believes the student-athlete suffered a concussion on the day of the alleged attack.
“It is also my feeling that those symptoms are currently resolving and that [his] headaches may be emanating primarily from the cervical spine,” Dr. Anthony Alessi said.
Video of wrestling practice on the day of the alleged incident shows that the coach and the student-athlete wrestled twice. During which the coach was seen using his elbow to contact the athlete’s face, police claim.
While one wrestling team member and witness claims that the coach only lightly tapped the wrestler on the bike. The mother of a former team member claims that Nelson referred to her son as a “cancer” of the team, left both her and her son feeling “targeted, isolated, ostracized and extremely disheartened.”
There are no cameras in the cardio room where the alleged slapping incident occurred.