Teacher and assistant principal arrested over use of forbidden chokehold on student and failure to notify Florida authorities of child abuse on 14 year old student. Incident involved teacher, Bennie Leverett and assistant principal, Tashiska Fabian at Progress Village Middle School.
An assistant principal and a teacher at a Florida middle school have been arrested after the teacher placed a student in a forbidden chokehold earlier this year and the assistant principal failed to report the incident to authorities, Hillsborough County deputies say.
On Jan. 18, Progress Village Middle School teacher Bennie Leverett, 39, put a student in a chokehold, ‘restricting the student’s ability to breathe before eventually releasing the hold,’ the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release Friday.
Assistant principal ordered student to delete video incriminating teacher
According to an arrest affidavit, Leverett ‘had the victim in this position for approximately four minutes and at one point pulled the victim to the floor while he was still in the rear choke hold.’
The un-identified student was 14 years old.
Multiple witnesses recorded the incident on their cellphones, and Leverett made them delete the videos before they left class, the Tampa Bay Times reported.
Recorded video revealed children pleading with the educator to stop, but to no avail.
It remained unclear what triggered the confrontation, with video showing Leverett allegedly grappling with the student and holding him in a headlock as the teenager attempted to free himself.
The school’s assistant principal, Tashiska Fabian, 41, met with Leverett and the student after the incident but did not report it to the child abuse hotline or law enforcement, police said. Fabian also learned that a student had captured the incident on video, and ordered the student to delete the footage, deputies stated.
Abuse of position of authority and power
Unbeknownst to school authorities, the deleted video was later recovered by detectives.
On Feb. 16, the sheriff’s office responded to the school with the Department of Children and Families, with Leverett arrested on March 14.
‘Following a detailed investigation, detectives determined Fabian failed to report this incident and issued a warrant for her arrest,’ police said. The assistant principal was arrested Wednesday.
‘It is deeply troubling that a teacher would harm a student, but even more so when a person in a position of authority fails to do the right thing and report the crime,’ Sheriff Chad Chronister said.
A spokesperson for Hillsborough County Public Schools said Leverett and Fabian were removed from duty in February after the school district learned of the allegations.
Leverett never returned to the school, and he resigned from the district in March, spokesperson Tanya Arja said. Fabian was not allowed to return to the school and was terminated.
‘Neither one of these individuals has been on our campus since last February and it does not involve any current district employee,’ Arja wrote in an email. ‘The safety of our students and staff is our top priority.’
Leverett is charged with one count of child abuse, a third-degree felony. Records show he was released from the Hillsborough County jail after posting a $5,000 bond on March 14. He has pleaded not guilty through an attorney.
Fabian is facing one count of failure to report child abuse, a third-degree felony. Records show she was released from the Hillsborough County jail Wednesday after posting a $2,500 bond.
Chokeholds have been banned by many major police departments across the United States since the 2014 death of Eric Garner, a New York City man police were trying to apprehend for selling loose cigarettes, and that effort ramped up after the police killing of George Floyd in Minnesota in 2020.
