Law&Crime Sidebar - Florida Teacher Allegedly Pushed, Dragged Student with Disabilities as Abusive Punishment

Episode Date: August 27, 2024

Palm Bay police officers arrested Beatriz Rapisarda, after teaching aides inside an elementary school classroom reported her. Rapisarda now faces charges of child abuse and false imprisonment. Law&Crime’s Jesse Weber breaks down the allegations of pushing, pulling, and even pinning the student down with civil attorney Faudlin Pierre.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: Download the FREE Upside App at https://upside.app.link/sidebar to get an extra 25 cents back for every gallon on your first tank of gas.HOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger and Christina FalconeScript Writing & Producing - Savannah WilliamsonGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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will keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series. Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. A teacher who works closely with young special needs students went from classroom to courtroom after witnesses described an intense interaction between her and a student. We're breaking down these criminal allegations of pushing, pulling, and even pinning the student down with civil attorney Fodlin Pierre. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. And how long have you been or were you employed with the school board? In Brevard County,

this would be my third year in Orange County, 15 years. 41-year-old Beatriz Rappasarda is a veteran educator in central Florida. Well, maybe was because authorities say her behavior in a classroom at Sunrise Elementary School in Palm Bay was completely unacceptable and possibly criminal. Yeah, Rappasarta is charged with child abuse without great bodily harm and false imprisonment of a child under the age of 13. And it's all in connection with an incident that happened on August 21st when the student allegedly refused to do what. Rappasada wanted. And what did she do? She allegedly got physical with them. Palm Bay Police came out the next morning to take reports from a teaching assistant as well as three power professionals known as registered behavioral technicians. And they all provided

sworn statements about what they saw. According to a probable cause affidavit, the classroom has 13 students with intellectual disabilities between the ages of kindergarten and 6th grade. And it's being reported that the student in question is between the ages of 5 and 10. Yeah, so this is a terrible case. There's really no other way to say it. And look, we appreciate you guys. We appreciate you coming to us for our coverage, our analysis of this kind of stuff. And one of the ways that we want to say thank you is we'd like to introduce you to some of our incredible sponsors who are offering services that may really help you out.

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There's a lot to get into. I warn you right now, not easy to hear what we're about to get into. But I want to bring in civil attorney Faudlin Pierre to talk more about this. Thanks so much for coming on. You know, one of the things that strikes me is children are already particularly vulnerable victims. And now, when they have intellectual disabilities, that just adds another layer. They really need extra care and protection. And that's what makes these allegations so troubling about what I'm about to get into.

But what are your initial thoughts? Funny enough, that's exactly where I was thinking. Children are our most vulnerable assets. I mean, those in the elderly, the law recognized, at least in Florida, that these are individuals that deserve extra protection. But when you have that added layer of disability, that's what makes the allegation. and the arrest affidavit that I read troubling is the fact that she was in charge and in custody of these children with disabilities and I want to get into it and it's it's not only disturbing it's heartbreaking I mean if you take it or at face value what's this is so

let's take a closer look at this probable cause affidavit again I'm warning you not easy but important to get through so it says quote the student is considered one who wanders the classroom between stations. The teacher wanted the student to go from one area to another. However, the student said no. The teacher then physically pushed the student at least twice using two open palms to the student's chest area. The student in protest threw herself on the ground

and the teacher then grabbed the student by her wrist and pulled her straight up, at which point the student again threw herself on the ground. Goes on to state, two witnesses. stated the teacher got on top of the student, straddled her as the student was on her back, and pinned the student's arms to the ground. The student got up again, and then the teacher stepped in front of the student, grabbed her under the arms, and dragged her towards the bathroom.

When asked why the bathroom, all four witnesses stated that the teacher uses the bathroom as a form of punishment and often puts this particular student in the bathroom and will close the door with only her foot in it so it's not completely shut. up. So, Father, let me start there. Any way to defend this? I can accept that, you know, teaching children that probably need a little bit more care that have certain limitations or disabilities, there might be a need to maybe get a little more physical at times, but nothing like this. And I don't know how you defend it. Oftentimes when I hear about cases involving the government

and whether it be a teacher and a student, the police or a citizen, I often think about what's the trigger point. In this situation, I don't I can't figure out what was the

trigger point. What was that would cause her to be more physical because I understand that you may have to to defend yourself in certain circumstances. Maybe the student said something or she felt like she was in threat or she worried about her safety. But based off of the probable cause affidavit,

it seems that she was the aggressor in this situation. She was the one that was taking it one step further. I would say, I'm not a psychologist. I don't know the full details. Frustration. Maybe she was frustrated. I don't know. There's not a good explanation.

It's not a legal defense. What I do think is important to note is that when you have children with disabilities, their own ability to report what happened to them can be very limited, which makes it so crucial, right, that you have these alleged witnesses here. Had we not had these four witnesses, and again, we don't know if they're students, if they're teacher, their faculty or individuals who are employed by the school, but I'm assuming some of them at least are students because, They reported that this is locking up in the bathroom as a form of punishment.

So that means she's done this before. I would think, going back to your point, that I believe the witnesses are key to this entire case is because they're basically telling you her mode of operandi. Let's continue on with this document. It says, quote, as the teacher pulled the student across the classroom, approximately 30 feet, and as the student kicked and screamed,

the student's foot became stuck in a nearby shelf. The teacher grabbed the student's ankle and wrist and pulled her way from the shelf, and in the process had the student on her left side with the teacher's knee in the student's middle back area, also pinning the student's right arm down. The witnesses described it as the teacher having all of her weight on the student.

the way, how specific is this? So it's one thing to not only say how brazen of her to allegedly do this in front of witnesses, but this description is so specific too. What does that tell you? That tells me there's more than problem costs here. I mean, if the officer was able to get a narrative of what actually took place and based off of my reading of the arrest affidavit is that there was multiple witnesses. And, he was able to piece all of those together to form this coherent and coherent story. So I think it says more about the teacher than it does about the student. By the way, before we get into this last part, do you expect any litigation here?

Of course, criminally and civilly. I took some opportunity to look up the criminal statute that on charges that were filed. One was the false imprisonment and the other one was child abuse. I think based off of the probable cause affidavit, yes, this is America, we want to presume everyone innocent, but based off of the probable cause affidavit, I think there's more than enough to prosecute and get a conviction against this teacher. Civilly, I also believe that based off the allegation, there's a claim for false imprisonment. There's a claim for for battery. There's a claim for against the school system, possibly negligence, because

this is not the first time based off of the probable cause affidavit. And could any of the witnesses or the family members of the students sue based on what they observed? In other words, negligent or intentional infliction of emotional distress, if somebody observes abuse like this and they see this day in and day out or they were witnesses to this, can you sue for that? I mean, anybody could sue anybody for anything, but could that be a legitimate cause of action? If it's just the witnesses, I wouldn't bring a case based off of intentional infliction of emotional distress. I just think, as you probably know, it's just not outrageous enough.

Yeah, it shocks the conscience, but there's the physical impact, right? Like, for the student who has been the subject of, I think you can make a claim, for intentional affliction of distress, but not for witnesses because there's no physical impact that would result in that. That makes sense. Okay, so going back to this affidavit says, quote, the student tried to crawl away when the teacher then dragged the student to the bathroom on her back, again, just it's shocking to even be saying this, by both wrists and proceeded to hold the bathroom door almost completely shut

as the student banged on it to exit the bathroom. The teacher also had her arm on the door to prevent the student from exiting the bathroom. The student was there for approximately 8 to 10 minutes. The witnesses stated that this action was so shocking that one of them left the classroom and notified their supervisor. Again, these are allegations, but disturbing allegations nonetheless. So we have this false imprisonment in charge. The term false imprisonment means forcibly by threat or secretly confining, abducting, imprisoning or restraining another person without lawful authority and against her or his will.

And the officer spoke with the parents of the student who said they wanted to pursue criminal charges against Rappasarda. Now, the officer tried to speak with Rappasada herself, but apparently she told him she wanted a lawyer present for any questioning. So the officer took her into custody. I will tell you, Fodlin, that that's a smart move, at least on her part. You know, she knows not to be speaking too long. enforcement, particularly given these allegations. But here's what it's interesting. My understanding,

these are third-degree felonies punishable by five years in prison. Correct me if I'm wrong. Incentive, I think, would be for her to plead guilty and not take this to trial. I don't know if a deal would actually be offered or what a deal would look like, but given the gravity of these allegations and eyewitness accounts, it's going to be tough to defend. Do you think that she should work on getting a deal and do you think there would be one offer to her? Yeah, I would say yes to both questions, to be honest with you. People who are accused of murder get plea deals. So this would not be in the link where there's no plea that would be offered.

But the second thing is, I think it could be in her best interest to not go before a jury on this. These are terrible allegations, as you have said before, it is shocking. I don't think anyone in their right mind would say, hey, I'm I want to take this to trial, and if this teacher can throw herself at the mercy of the court, I think that's in the best interest of the best interest of the accused. I still think she would get prison time. I don't think that that would be taken off for something like this.

Yeah, I would tend to agree with you. I think she'll serve some time, time served, but I don't know if she'd get prison time. You know, we talked about this before, but according to the witnesses, this wasn't the first time that she allegedly put her hands on the same student. No, because just days earlier, one of the witnesses told this police officer that Rappasarta, quote, wrapped the student in a styrofoam mat that is used to create dividing areas within the same classroom. The witness described the wrapping of the student as a swaddle or burrito style and stated that the teacher held the student in place standing up with her arms wrapped around the mat for a proxswain. approximately five to seven minutes when asked all four witnesses to the incident stated the behavior of the teacher was unacceptable aggressive that

they would have handled it differently since going on hands going hands on with a student is not normal practice all four also stated that they have concerns regarding the teacher's behavior towards the kids and described the teacher as very controlling the witnesses also stated the teacher has a bathroom schedule for all the special needs kids and she has denied them using the bathroom if they don't go at their allotted time. Now the affidavit didn't state if the student was hurt during any of these interactions, but Fodlin, my understanding is that really doesn't matter so much because I read the Florida

statute to say that it's intentional infliction, this is the child abuse claim, intentional infliction of physical or mental injury upon a child, an intentional act that could reasonably be expected to result in physical or mental injury to a child. So I think that these allegations are sufficient, that it warrants there. Again, I would agree with you. I think the allegations as pled in the arrest affidavit show a beyond a reasonable doubt if that was presented to the jury that she would be convicted of child abuse. I mean, as we've gone out. It gets progressively worse as you go through the arrest affidavit. It doesn't get any better.

So I would completely agree. And during her bond hearing in Brevard County last week, Repasard confirmed to the judge that this was her third year working for. Brevard Public Schools. She'd been with nearby Orange County schools for 15 years before that. We also checked the Florida Education Practices Commission website. We didn't find any formal complaints against Rappasarta. We also checked out her criminal record and we found only some traffic tickets. Her court record in Brevard County also shows she's going through a divorce and dealing with child custody matters and there was a request for an order of protection due to domestic violence, but the details of that weren't really disclosed. In a statement,

The official said, Brevard Public Schools is aware of an incident which led to the arrest of a teacher at Sunrise Elementary. The teacher has been placed on administrative leave while law enforcement conducts their investigation. The safety and security of our students is our number one priority. We are fully cooperating with law enforcement in their investigation. So Fadl and Pierre, any final thoughts as we think about this case? Because it is so disturbing and it's, I always say, you know, some of the allegations that we cover, some of the things we cover they're just so extreme that it would be hard to make up um but i think it gives credence to these witnesses and how specific they were um that this is again appears by

on face value to be a very tough case for her to defend but i'll give you the final word on this case i think i'll end where you started i think when we consider the victim as well as uh the the victim's disability, we have to provide extra care, extra protection, because oftentimes they have low functionality or they don't communicate as well as someone who doesn't have that disability. And I think it's responsibility of the school system to make sure that they're placing students as well as teachers in an environment that is, protected and that these shocking allegations don't have to come out. Basically, we need to make sure that the students that are in our school system, public or private, are protected. And when it

comes to a student with a disability, we provide an extra layer of care of protection. Fadlampierre, thank you so much for coming on. Appreciate you talking about this. I know it's not an easy one, but thank you again. Thank you. Appreciate it, Mr. Weber. All right, everybody. That's all we have for you right now on this very, very disturbing case. Thank you so much for joining us here on Sidebar. And as always, please subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak to you next time. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.