A Mobile, Alabama teacher is charged with aggravated child abuse after police determined he provided a near-lethal amount of alcohol to a 4-year-old student.
When Mary and Albert Singleton picked up their daughter Algeria on April 28 from Collins-Rhodes Elementary School, the little girl was limp and “slobbering at the mouth,” her mother said. A nurse at the school told them it was probably an ear infection.
They rushed her to the emergency room, with no idea what was wrong.
“One of the nurses turned around saying like, ‘Hey, just so y’all know, while being transferred, she threw up one time on the ambulance ride,’” Albert Singleton said. “She said, and that’s the blanket right over there, if you smell it, it don’t smell like vomit. That’s the smell of some type of disinfectant cleaner or something.”
The Singletons were stunned when doctors informed them Algeria’s blood alcohol content was a shocking 0.29 — more than 3.5 times the legal limit for an adult. A level that high can cause symptoms including a loss of consciousness and result in a coma.
Algeria spent two days in intensive care before she was released from the hospital, WALA-TV reported. She was unable to return to school, however, due to her recovery.
“How is this even possible?” Algeria’s father, Albert Singleton, asked at the time. “Where was the supervision?”
It turns out the supervisor was the problem, according to the Mobile County Sheriff’s Department. On Wednesday they arrested Tracy Walker, 56, after Algeria told them he had given her a drink that later made her feel sick.
Walker is a special education instructor at Collins-Rhodes. School officials told the TV station he had been placed on administrative leave once the allegations against him were made known.
“We’ve never had any problems like that at that school and I personally dropped my daughter off and see her walk in with good spirits and good health,” Albert Singleton said. “Then, when we return to get her and she’s in a state of close to death, that’s an uneasy feeling.”
Mobile County Public School System Director of Communications Rena Philips said in a statement that officials “take all allegations seriously.”
“We have been cooperating with law enforcement on the investigation, and we will continue working with them,” she said.
MCSO deputies said they have interviewed family member, teachers at the school and medical professionals. So far it’s unclear why Walker gave Algeria the alcohol. The investigation is ongoing.
Walker remains in custody pending a bond hearing set for Friday, jail records show.
