John Jefferson
Background: Aspire Preparatory Academy in Miami Gardens, Fla. (Google Maps). Inset (top): Crishawn Nicholson (Miami-Dade County Corrections and Rehabilitation). Inset (bottom): Photo of the student’s injury provided to WSVN (WSVN).
A Florida teacher bonded out of jail after she was arrested for allegedly slicing a 5-year-old’s face with a ruler — something prosecutors said she admitted to doing in a video.
Crishawn Nicholson, 25, was released from Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center after being booked on Jan. 9, when she turned herself in to police. She was charged with one count of felony child abuse following a Nov. 21 incident involving one of her students.
According to the arrest report obtained by WSVN, a local Fox affiliate, Nicholson told the mother of the 5-year-old boy that he injured himself with a pencil, causing a gash in his eyebrow that required three stitches. But the boy had a different story.
The boy’s mother, who wanted to remain anonymous, told WSVN that her son told her that “his teacher did hit him with a ruler.” She reported the incident to the school, which then notified police two days after the incident took place. An investigation by the Florida Department of Children and Families commenced, and during a medical evaluation of the boy, he stated that it was Nicholson who struck him with a ruler, and he demonstrated how she allegedly hit him.
Police called Nicholson in to the Miami Gardens Police Department, where she was arrested and booked on one charge of child abuse. She posted $5,000 bond on Jan. 10 following a court appearance and was released.
Nicholson’s attorney attempted to downplay the incident as a one-time “hiccup” in an otherwise blemish-free record, and requested that her client not be disallowed from teaching. Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Mindy S. Glazer agreed that “this could be an isolated incident.” The prosecutor argued against that, saying that Nicholson admitted in a video that “I did pop him.”
Glazer ordered Nicholson to not make contact with the student and to stay away from Aspire Preparatory Academy, the school where she was working. Law&Crime reached out to the school for a statement, but did not receive an immediate response.
Nicholson’s next court appearance is Feb. 7.
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