JACKSONVILLE, Fla.—A Duval County Schools employee is facing child abuse charges and a school police officer has been temporarily suspended following a 2015 incident at Arlington Middle School.
After the altercation, a student was arrested and put in jail for more than a week. A report from the district shows that the investigation into what led to the arrest was not thorough and a teacher is charged with child abuse.
The December 2015 incident has also resulted in changes for how school police investigations are handled.
Two teens at Arlington Middle reportedly disobeyed a substitute teacher and went outside to play, the report shows. Robert Fields, a school employee, was called to get the teens back inside the building, according to the report.
Video surveillance from a hallway showed that Fields grabbed one of the students around the neck and took him to the ground. We’ve requested the video from DCPS, but have yet to receive it.
The student in that incident was arrested on battery charges based upon information obtained by School Police Officer Ryan Goethe.
Goethe did the investigation, but according to the district’s report, it was an incomplete investigation. Goethe reportedly didn’t even respond to the altercation until after it had gone on for some time.
Three days later, the surveillance video was released. That was when the Department of Children and Families got involved.
The State Attorney took a look at the surveillance video and – nine days after the teen was arrested – decided the drop the charges.
Goethe reportedly did not ‘thoroughly’ interview all involved parties. And now, school employee Robert Fields has been arrested and charged with child abuse charges.
And because of Goethe’s ‘sloppy police work,’ the district is changing the way investigations are conducted. Detectives will not be added for certain investigations.