Prosecutors in Palm Beach County have opted not to pursue criminal charges against a school paraprofessional accused of punching a student during a fight on a high school bus, effectively closing the criminal side of a case that has had Dwyer High families buzzing for weeks.
The State Attorney’s Office marked the child-abuse case as “no file” after reviewing school police reports and bus surveillance footage. That decision ends the possibility of a criminal trial even as the school district keeps its own internal investigation going.
In a March 10 filing, the State Attorney’s Office wrote that there was probable cause for an arrest but that the evidence was “insufficient to support a criminal prosecution,” according to WPEC/CBS12. The filing formally listed the charge as “no file,” the station reported.
What happened on the bus
The confrontation broke out around dismissal on Feb. 17 as students boarded Bus 16 at William T. Dwyer High School, according to school police reports. The bus driver reported an unruly student who refused to follow seating instructions and called for backup. That is when 49-year-old paraprofessional Shaundra Smith boarded the bus to intervene. The officer’s narrative says Smith and the student traded punches before others pulled them apart, per WPBF 25 News.
Video and injuries
Investigators say the bus surveillance video shows Smith stepping onto a seat and throwing multiple punches at the student’s face while the student’s arms were being restrained. The audio captures repeated commands for Smith to stop. The student ended up with cuts inside the mouth and a bruise near the collarbone, while Smith had scratches that needed treatment, according to WPEC/CBS12.
Charges and the law
Smith was arrested on a charge of child abuse without great bodily harm, which is a third-degree felony under Florida law. The state’s child-abuse statute says that knowingly or willfully abusing a child without causing great bodily harm is a third-degree felony, per the Florida Statutes. Local reporting drawing on the arrest report’s description of Smith’s actions notes investigators wrote that her conduct appeared defensive at first but then became “intentional and unnecessary.”
School reaction and court order
Dwyer principal Corey Brooks told families that “Ms. Smith has been removed from our campus and will not return, pending the outcome of an investigation,” according to WPBF 25 News. A judge later ordered Smith to have no contact with the student, the student’s family, or any Palm Beach County School District property, and released her on a $10,000 bond, WPBF reported…