Palmetto principal won’t be charged with a crime after police give case second look
Police have taken a second look at the case involving Palmetto Elementary School principal Michelle Mealor after interviewing the substitute teacher who said she witnessed that principal yank a chair out from under an autistic boy, causing him to fall on the ground.
Investigators had not originally interviewed the teacher before initially concluding that no crime had been committed and closing the case. Someone at the school had told a detective that the teacher, Katherine Cammarata, had resigned after the incident.
But Cammarata had not resigned and continues to regularly substitute teach at the school, the Bradenton Herald confirmed.
Police last week questioned school administration again about Cammarata’s status after being asked by a Herald reporter about the origin of the statement that she had resigned. The lead detective interviewed Cammarata about the incident on Friday.
HIgher-ranking officers reviewed Cammarata’s statements to the detective, along with her interview with the Bradenton Herald and the statements of other witnesses. They came to the same conclusion that there was not enough evidence to prove a crime had been committed, according to Chief of Police Scott Tyler.
“Basically, we have conflicting statements,” Tyler said. “To bring a battery charge, we would have to show that she deliberately caused physical harm.”
As part of the review, police also considered whether Mealor’s actions met the elements of the criminal charge of culpable negligence, but determined that those elements were also lacking. The statements of the four staffers present, in addition to Mealor, differ on whether she tipped the chair to get the boy to stand up or aggressively yanked the chair out from under him.
Child protection investigators had also concluded their investigation, finding the allegation of child abuse was unfounded. The conclusion of the school district’s own internal investigation has not yet been made public because state law gives Mealor 10 days to respond before the report becomes public record.
Mealor remains on paid administrative leave, according to the Manatee County School District.
“Whether this was the best way to handle this child’s behavior I won’t say, but from the criminal element, we don’t have probable cause,” Tyler said. “It’s not uncommon for us to unfound the criminal and CPS to come to a different conclusion because the standards and burdens are so different.”
During an interview with the Bradenton Herald last week, Cammarata said she had spoken with the case’s assigned child protection investigator that day and expressed her concerns about the outcome of the investigations failing to finding that abuse occurred. Cammarata said she was told not to trust news reports and that the investigation remained on-going.
On Tuesday, sheriff’s office spokesman Randy Warren confirmed that the case had been closed on Nov. 22 and had not been reopened.
This story was originally published December 11, 2019 at 5:00 AM.
