TAMPA, Fla. — The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office says that an assistant principal and a teacher from Progress Village Middle School were arrested after a child abuse investigation. 

Bennie Leverett, 39, a teacher at the school, is accused of putting a student in a “chokehold” during the past school season, “restricting the student’s ability to breathe before eventually releasing the hold,” according to a news release.

Tashiska Fabian, 41, the school’s assistant principal, met with Leverett and the student after becoming aware of the incident, the sheriff’s office said. Fabian did not report the matter to the child abuse hotline or law enforcement, according to the news release.

The sheriff’s office said Fabian learned that a student had recorded the incident and instructed the student to delete the footage.

The video was deleted but later recovered by detectives, the news release stated.

Leverett was investigated a few weeks after the incident occurred. Fabian was arrested earlier this week 

“It is deeply troubling that a teacher would harm a student, but even more so when a person in a position of authority fails to do the right thing and report the crime. This is a complete betrayal of trust within our community,” said Sheriff Chad Chronister.

“I’m proud of the witness who stepped up and did the right thing by reporting the incident, ensuring law enforcement could step in and bring justice for the victim.”

Leverett was charged with child abuse. Fabian was charged with failure to report child abuse.

Spectrum Bay News 9 has reached out to the school district for comment. Friday afternoon, a spokesperson said:

Back in February, we were notified about an allegation that a teacher put a student in a chokehold.

Immediately upon finding out about the allegation, the teacher was pulled from duty.

The teacher was then arrested in March, and the school notified all families about the arrest at the time. The teacher never returned to school, and he resigned from the district in March.  

The Sheriff's Office also was investigating our former assistant principal for knowing about the incident but failing to report it to law enforcement.  The Assistant Principal at the time, Ms. Fabian, was also pulled from duty in March. She was never allowed to return to the school and was let go. She is not a current district employee. 

Again, neither one of these individuals has been on our campus since last February and it does not involve any current district employee. 

The safety of our students and staff is our top priority.

The case is still under investigation. View video released the sheriff’s office below. The video may be disturbing to watch.