Tallahassee Police charged a woman with child abuse after witnesses said she hit a child multiple times on school grounds. Her attorney says the child is the suspect’s son, and he argues his client’s actions amount to corporal punishment.
Police arrested and charged Arielle Everett on Monday outside Oak Ridge Elementary School. An arrest report says she confronted a boy who had been who had been taken off a bus due to behavior. The confrontation was captured on surveillance video.
Police say, in the video, the child appeared to take a defensive posture as Everett approached. Everett then grabbed the boy before he tried to run. Everett held her grip. The police report says she “appeared to take him down” onto the sidewalk, injuring the child’s face. Police say the two had a “physical altercation,” and staff tried to step in and break it up. They say during that time, Everett was trying to “strike [the child] with her right hand.”
According to the arrest report, a person identified as “Landrum” told police that Everett was trying to punch the child, and staff had to hold her back.
Everett told police she was angry with the child due to his continued behavioral problems. And she claims she could hear the child yelling at staff members and cursing at the bus driver. Everett claims after grabbing the child, she fell due to neuropathy in her lower legs. But she claims she did try to “pop” the boy a few times. Police clarified saying she meant an “open hand slap.”
According to court records, Everett’s legal team entered a not guilty plea in court Thursday and requested a trial. Her attorney, Joshua Zelman, also released a stament on the case.
He says the child is Everett’s son and claims he suffers from “numerous behavioral issues.” That includes a failure to follow his IEP. Zelman says his client tried to hit her son in the mouth with an open hand, not with a closed fist as the witness claimed.
He added, “It is significant to remember that in Florida, it is lawful for a parent or guardian to use corporal punishment with a child.”
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