FL. 8-year-old Riverside Elementary student arrested – for fifth time

This is becoming a more common occurrence.  As well as the debate between what a school should be handling and when a situation escalates to the point where the school needs to call for outside assistance.   This also extends to the debate regarding filing criminal charges on students and again, what should be handled internally by the school and when outside assistance i.e. law enforcement should be involved.

On Tuesday morning, the boy fought another student in his Riverside Elementary School classroom and then left the campus with a school employee following him, according to the Sheriff’s Office incident report.

At one point, he returned to campus, jumped a 4-foot-tall chain-link fence and found several large wooden sticks that he then threw at school behavioral specialist Tawny Chiuchiarelli, striking her at least once, but not injuring her.

The boy then picked up a piece of galvanized pipe that he threw in Chiuchiarelli’s direction.

He was charged with battery on a school employee, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and disruption of an educational institute.

Records show that the boy, a special-education student, has become increasingly violent toward teachers and destroyed school property more than once in the past few weeks.

The Florida Department of Children and Families reports that it responded to the boy’s home in December after a report about a physical injury to him, but the case was closed because there was not enough evidence to prove that the injury happened because of abuse, abandonment or neglect.

The boy’s first two arrests came in November and December. Both times he hit and kicked school employees. On Nov. 10, he threw punches and kicks while yelling “Take me to jail.” On Dec. 10, he broke one classroom window with his hands, tried to break others and kicked and hit members of the school’s staff.

On Jan. 4, special-education teacher David Chesmel Jr. tried to stop the boy when he began throwing books, chairs and desks at his classmates. The 85-pound, 4-foot, 8-inch boy struck the 6-foot,1-inch Chesmel with a chair and other items. The boy also punched Chesmel and chased and threatened other students.

Chiuchiarelli said the boy punched and kicked her before other school employees were able to subdue him and take him to a separate room, where he began to try to rip computer wires from the walls.

He then began punching and kicking her again and also attacked behavioral tech Savenia Laster.

Assistant principal Patricia Ius, who said the boy also kicked her in the face that day, determined that it would cost about $1,000 to repair the damage the boy did to the room.

That time, he was accused of aggravated battery on a school employee and three counts of battery on a school employee.

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