A teacher was arrested after a disturbing video appeared online showing his beating of one of his students.
WPMI-TV reported Randi Nicole Staples is 44-years-old and is a 2nd-grade teacher at Cottage Hill Christian Academy. Staples was arrested because of a concerning video posted on her Facebook page that appeared to contain 22 hits within 14 seconds.
According to reports from the outlet, the video shows Staples hitting her 12-year-old son with what looks like a belt or strap and then picking him up by his hair and yelling at him using obscenities.
The Mobile County Sheriff’s Office confirmed to WPMI that Staples is, in fact, the mother of the child.
Another sibling, also living at home, recorded it all and shared it to their elder sibling to publish it on social media platforms, according to WKRG.
According to WPMI, this particular video was shared for very short minutes before its deletion.
A post on the Cottage Hill Christian Academy page at Facebook shows Staples received the Teacher of the Year award in May:
“It’s almost like a dual personality,” Mobile County Sheriff Paul Burch told WPMI Media. “Because by all accounts, I’m told she is a good teacher and well respected. And yet what happens in the home is clearly opposite of that.”
The statement from Cottage Hill Christian Academy to WPMI regarding the video:
“Following the findings of law enforcement, which determined that the teacher had engaged in improper conduct unrelated to her school responsibilities, an arrest was made, and Cottage Hill Christian Academy terminated her employment in accordance with institutional policy.”
The school further clarified that it will work together with the Department of Human Resources, Mobile County Sheriff’s Office, and Mobile County District Attorney’s Office to further carry out its investigation.
Staples was arrested and booked into Mobile Metro Jail. Staples is charged with the following offenses, as reported:
“Willful abuse of minor (Under 18) (Felony)”
When talking to the media source, Sheriff Burch called Staples’ behavior shown on the video “repulsive.”
“People are entitled to discipline their children how they choose, but that went well beyond discipline. It was abuse,” he said. “And it was sickening to see somebody repeatedly strike their child, then grab them by the hair and yell and curse at them. I think the last strike was across his arms there was never any question or doubt that she was ultimately going to be arrested.”
When WKRG approached Sheriff Burch for comment, he confirmed that all of the children have been put off into care with a family member while the probe proceeds, as reported by WPMI.
