Report: Police officer, judge disagreed on whether to arrest school administrator in choking incident
A police report about an incident in which a school administrator allegedly putting a 15-year-old student in a chokehold and caused her to lose consciousness showed a judge flip-flopped and ultimately told the reporting officer to avoid issuing an arrest warrant.
A fight broke out between Yalonda Nesmith’s 15-year-old daughter and another juvenile at Kingstree Senior High School in Kingstree this week that was captured on video by a bystander.
The video shows two girls assaulting each other by slapping, pulling hair and punching while being pulled apart by two men. Toward the end of the video, one of the girls goes limp and drops to the ground.
The incident report from Kingstree Police Department identified the suspect as Mack Burgess, 69, of Cades, who is a coach and assistant principal at the school.
Nesmith went to the police department Tuesday morning to report the assault and said she and her daughter wanted to pursue charges, the report stated. Nesmith provided police a copy of the video.
The reporting officer, 1st Sgt. Robert Lee, believed there was probable cause for an arrest warrant for Burgess. He said in his report that in watching the video, he saw “the suspect place the female juvenile in a chokehold and did observe her passing out.”
He explained the incident and showed the video to Williamsburg County magistrate Judge William C. Driggers, who agreed an assault had taken place and Lee had enough probable cause for an arrest warrant.
In the end, Driggers called Lee to tell him to issue a courtesy summons instead of an arrest warrant for Burgess.
When the officer questioned this decision, Lee asked Driggers if he thought that the suspect needed to be arrested and was a danger to the community. Lee answered “yes,” because Driggers had “choked a 15-year-old girl till she passed out,” the report stated.
Lee reportedly further pleaded the case to Driggers, to no avail.
The report stated the girl went to Tideland Medical Hospital for the choking and that she had an “apparent minor injury.” Police are waiting her medical records from the visit.
This story was originally published May 6, 2016 at 4:24 PM with the headline "Report: Police officer, judge disagreed on whether to arrest school administrator in choking incident."