Florida school supervisor arrested for failing to report 12-year-old's skull fracture: Police
02/20/2020 10:01 am PST
via KTVI:
PINELLAS PARK, Fla. (KTVI) -- A 12-year-old boy's skull was fractured during an altercation with a behavioral interventionist at a school in Pinellas Park on Feb. 11, police said.
According to Pinellas Park police, the 12-year-old boy had been “acting out” at lunch, so he was put in an isolated room called the “Room of Opportunity” with 34-year-old Dontae Thomas. Police said Thomas, a 300-pound man, used an “arm-bar” maneuver to take the 100-pound child down, but slammed the child on his head.
Police said the boy started vomiting and losing consciousness and was in the room for about 90 minutes. A different behavioral interventionist escorted him to a conference room, where he was under observation for about 30 minutes.
The student was then accompanied by the supervisor, Jarvis Delon West, to board the bus. According to the arrest report, West was “made aware of the fact that force was used against the student, that the student was in obvious medical duress.”
Police said West never said anything to the boy's mother, who thought her child was sick with the flu. Two days passed, and the mother became concerned that her son was not getting better, so she brought him to All Children's Hospital, where doctors diagnosed him with a fractured skull, two subdural hematomas, and brain bleed.
“All of these injuries are believed to be the result of the aforementioned physical encounter,” police said.
West, 28, was arrested and charged with failure to report child neglect and neglect of a child resulting in great bodily harm. Police did not immediately announce what charges Thomas may face.
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