An elderly substitute teacher was busted for choking a Queens middle-school student during class this week, cops said.
The boy told police he was in his fifth-period class Thursday and walked to the garbage to throw out an item when class sub Vernon Jerom, 77, suddenly put his hands around the kid’s throat and held on for about 5 seconds, authorities said.
The boy did not report any injuries and was not hospitalized.
Jerom was arrested just after 2 p.m. Thursday and charged with criminal obstruction of breathing and acting in a manner injurious to a child, police said.
“These allegations are very disturbing, and this substitute teacher was immediately pulled from service,” city Department of Education spokesman Nathaniel Styer said in a statement.
The school is located in the confines of the 109th Precinct, which covers northeast Queens, including Flushing and College Point.
