A King County jury on Thursday awarded $8 million to a former Seattle Public Schools student who was punched in the face by his middle school math teacher in 2018.

The verdict came after three days of deliberation and nearly a month of testimony last month in Superior Court in Seattle.

The jury found that Seattle Public Schools was responsible for the injuries Zakaria Sheikhibrahim, 21, suffered as a result of the January 2018 incident where James Johnson hit then 13-year-old Sheikhibrahim in the face and threw him out of a Meany Middle School math class during an argument about the student having his backpack in class, which was against school policy.

The jury also found that the district violated the state’s nondiscrimination and equal educational opportunity laws, by failing to provi

See Full Page