NEW: Florida teacher and vice principal were arrested after a video surfaced showing the teacher putting a student in a chokehold earlier this year ‘You’re killing him!’
— Unlimited L's (@unlimited_ls) September 7, 2024
Teacher Bennie Leverett is now facing one count of felony child abuse, and he posted a $5,000 bond to be… pic.twitter.com/Jpptna6Q7Y
Olivia Lloyd
The Charlotte Observer
A middle school teacher was caught on video choking a student, then the assistant principal didn’t report it and told a student to delete the footage, Florida authorities said.
Both former employees of Progress Village Middle Magnet School of the Arts now face charges, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office said Sept. 6.
Tashiska Fabian, 41, was arrested Sept. 4 on a charge of failure to report child abuse after ex-teacher Bennie Leverett, 39, was charged with child abuse in March, deputies said.
The arrests stem from a Jan. 18 incident captured on camera by a student.
A video shared by the sheriff’s office shows Leverett holding a student in a headlock in a classroom as other students protest and some laugh.
At one point, the teacher gets to his knees and holds the boy on the ground, the video shows. The student struggles in the teacher’s grasp and papers fly off the deskbefore the teacher guides the student into another room, and the video ends.
Fabian met with Leverett and the student but never reported the issue to law enforcement, deputies said. When she found out about the video, she told the student to delete it, investigators said. Detectives said they were able to recover the deleted footage.
The Department of Children and Families responded to the Tampa school alongside deputies Feb. 16, nearly a month after the altercation, the sheriff’s office said.
A spokesperson for Hillsborough County Public Schools told McClatchy News it learned of the incident in February. Leverett was removed from his duties once it came to light, and he resigned in March, the district said. Fabian was taken off-duty in March as well and wasn’t allowed back at school, and she was eventually terminated.
“Again, neither one of these individuals has been on our campus since last February and it does not involve any current district employee,” a spokesperson for the district said in an email. “The safety of our students and staff is our top priority.”
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