Intervention specialist acquitted of assault

A Fostoria City Schools intervention specialist accused of assaulting a student was acquitted during a trial in Seneca County Common Pleas Court Judge Michael Kelbley's courtroom Tuesday. Brandy L. Madden, 39, of Tiffin, had been indicted by a Seneca County grand jury on a charge of assault, a fourth-degree felony. The six-man, six-woman jury heard testimony about an incident involving Madden and a 6-year-old boy that occurred in a supply room at Riley Elementary School Oct. 5. It returned its not-guilty verdict after 15 minutes of deliberations Tuesday. In his opening statement Monday, Seneca County Prosecutor Derek DeVine had said the boy was diagnosed with autism, is verbally challenged and can't defend and speak for himself. Heather Bell, a school counselor at Riley and Longfellow schools, had testified Monday about seeing Madden and the student in the supply closet. Madden's arm was up with an open hand, and she swung across the boy and hit him in his chest, Bell said. In his opening statement Monday, Dean Henry, Madden's attorney, said the child was not hurt. Madden took the stand in her own defense Tuesday morning. She said she has been employed with Fostoria City Schools for nine years and is in her 16th year of teaching. Madden described the first-grade boy as wonderful and loving and said he would melt the heart of anybody he meets. She denied striking him. Madden recalled him starting to ask for a folder. She said she took him into the closet where the folders are kept, closed the door and didn't want him to run away. Madden said the boy's hands were on top of a shelf that is not attached to anything, and he was starting to tip it over. She said she grabbed his wrists, brought her hands down and and told him it wasn't safe. "I definitely yelled. … I do remember yelling. I remember yelling loud enough that my voice cracked," she said. Madden said she let go of the boy. "He started to hit me, so then I grabbed his hands again with one of my hands," she said. "I was able to hold both of his. He wasn't fighting to get away." Madden recalled she couldn't wait to go back to school this school year. "I can't explain why I love it so much," she said. During his closing argument Tuesday, Henry said the day of the incident wasn't a special day for Madden, who loves the child. It takes a special person to do what she does, he said. "Brandy Madden doesn't live in a perfect world. … They're not in a perfect world," he said about the children she educates.