Student Harassment Citation Against Centennial Teacher Dismissed

WARMINSTER, PA — The conviction of a former Centennial special education teacher accused of manhandling and slapping a kindergartener with autism last year has been overturned, authorities said.

The Bucks County District Attorney's Office and Centennial School District officials said that a judge overturned the case against Dennis Cahill, 66, of Yardley, during an appeal hearing on Thursday.

The judge found that Cahill was not guilty of summary harassment involving a 5-year-old boy, authorities said.

The judge said that he was not convinced that Cahill slapped the child, but he also praised the school employee who filed the child abuse report and the police for appropriately investigating and charging, the Bucks County Courier Times reported.

Cahill was placed on administrative leave from the Centennial School District last December pending an investigation of allegations of his interaction with special needs students.

He had been cited for harassment by the Upper Southampton Township Police Department for alleged physical violence against two children in the Centennial District in the same week while working as a teacher at Davis Elementary School, court records and police stated.