By Shavonne Walker

shavonne.walker@salisburypost.com

Former West Rowan High assistant football coach Brian Linville made his first court appearance this morning on charges he assaulted a student in his classroom.

Linville, who was also a math teacher, resigned last week from a position he’d held since August 2009.

The charge stems from an April 16 incident involving a 15-year-old student who took a school-issued laptop from Linville’s desk and tried to walk out of the classroom with it. Authorities said Linville blocked the student and told him to return to his seat. When the student pushed Linville, authorities said, the teacher picked up the student and pushed him into a metal cabinet and onto the floor.

Both the student and Linville went to the school office to report the incident. The 15-year-old student received a juvenile referral for disorderly conduct.

Another student in the class videoed the last several seconds of the exchange and posted it on social media.

In addition to being charged with assault, Linville was initially suspended from his job without pay. Last week the action was changed to suspension with pay through the end of the school year, when his resignation goes into effect.

Linville said very little following the hearing, which was continued to June 1 after a brief conversation with attorney Cecil Whitley. Attorney Darrin Jordan, of the same Salisbury law firm, will represent Linville.

The only discussion that occurred at the hearing came from Judge Marshall Bickett, who assigned Linville a new court date. Linville did answer during a call of his name that he was pleading not guilty and represented by an attorney.

Linville declined to comment following the hearing, at the advice of his attorney. He did speak briefly to three students who attended court.

The students —  Claudia Barger, Stephanie Davenport and Phillip McDaniel— told a Post reporter they wanted to show support for Linville.

Davenport said Linville is not the monster he’s being painted as in news accounts and by the public. She said she was shocked, scared and many of the students didn’t know what to do during the incident.

She felt the short video recording was meant to make Linville look bad. Davenport said there is more that the video doesn’t show, including Linville trying to calm the student down and reason with him.

“He’s not a bad guy,” she said of the teacher. “He’s very caring. He loves each and every one of his students. He’s like a father to us. That’s not who he is.”

Both Davenport and McDaniel, who are freshmen, said the atmosphere in school has changed since the incident, and being in Linville’s class without him is definitely different.

“We are not the same,” she said.

Davenport and McDaniel said this is not the first time the student involved the incident has gotten in Linville’s face.

“He’s a hot head,” Davenport said of the student.

Davenport indicated Linville remained calm during those incidents.