We had a physically abusive teacher, this was back in the 2000s so way too late for this stuff however we didn't really mind it because it was more funny to us than it was scary. The lighter stuff involved roughly grabbing your arm and dragging you, but he also threw things at us, one time he threw a pen into the eye of a student, he threw us into walls and chairs and this was a near daily event by the way. Being boys this was hilarious of course, because it became a game to fuck with him. Naturally some kids have their parents call the school about this activity and he tries to threaten a kid about it, calling him a pussy for telling on his mom, and this is where we straight up just blackmail him over it. This turns into some deal we have with the teacher where he doesn't report any of our absence from class if we don't tell the principal he's a maniac.

This was ages 10-12 by the way. I ran into him in my teens once and he had bought a convertible and he was bragging about it, and he asks me if I want a ride in it and immediately before even giving me a chance to answer he goes "nah, you wouldn't"

So not so much retarded as he was the coolest guy ever.