teacher won’t face criminal charges
canada goose black friday sale A Florida high school teacher who, with the help of his students, killed two raccoons and a possum by drowning them in a tub of water will not face criminal charges, the state’s prosecutors announced. canada goose black friday sale
cheap Canada Goose Dewie Brewton III, a former agricultural teacher at Forest High School in Ocala, Fla., “did not intend to torture or torment these nuisance animals,” and the killings are legal under state law, according toa four page memo released Friday by Brad King, state attorney for Florida’s Fifth Judicial Circuit. cheap Canada Goose
Criminal charges against Brewton, who tookearly retirement amid a public outcry and an investigation by https://www.fanclub-fulton-smith.de state officials, wouldn’t hold up in court because Florida law allows the killing of nuisance animals, and there’s no evidence that he tormented them with no justifiable reason,the memo said.
canada goose uk outlet “The decision to decline to file charges is not made in a vacuum,” according to the memo, adding that Brewton “was simply attempting to protect his class’s school project in an appropriate manner.” canada goose uk outlet
canada goose store Brewtontold investigators that raccoons were likely killing farm animals that his students were raising as part of their canada goose outlet legit agricultural class. The studentscared about the chickens, even naming some of them. Even the students expressed their desire to kill the nuisance animals. canada goose store
Canada Goose online The memo went on to explain how Brewton and his class settled on drowning the animals. Canada Goose online
Some students suggested shooting them, but Brewtonexplainedthat bringing a gun to the school violates policy. Bludgeoning them to death was too brutal. The most humane way, he told investigators, was to drown the animals.
“When he decided to employ this option, he told students that canada goose outlet black friday any student that did not want to witness or be involved with this removal of these nuisance animals could stay in the classroom with a paraprofessional,” the memo states. “Some students stayed behind in the classroom, and others went to assist in the removal of the nuisance animals.”
[Florida teacher accused of drowning raccoons in class resigns as state agencies investigate]
A 14 second videopublished by WKMGshowed a group of Brewton’s students filling a tubwith water and later keeping a trapped raccoon submerged. The video was reportedly taken by a student who was upset over what happened to the animals, the student’s mother told WKMG. The raccoons and the opossum were killed canada goose outlet michigan May 14, according to the mother, whom the station did not identify.
“It made me sick to my stomach. It’s terrible. It still does make me sick to my stomach,” the mother told canada goose outlet the station.
According to the state attorney’s office, the canada goose outlet store montreal Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission began an investigation after receiving an anonymous complaint from a mother of a student. Brewton later decided to take an early retirement, effectively ending the district’s investigation,school officialsHeidi Maier, the district’s superintendent who had recommended that Brewton be fired, said in an earlier statement that school officials are”appalled” by the teacher’s actions.
Canada Goose Coats On Sale “Marion County’s education standards in fact, Florida’s education standards do not include activities for the destruction canada goose outlet of live animals, nuisance or not,” the statement states. “While law enforcement determines whether this teacher’s actions were legal or not, his actions before students are entirely unacceptable and cause us great concern.” Canada Goose Coats On Sale
The American Veterinary Medical Association’s102 page guidelinestates that drowning “is not a means of euthanasia and is inhumane.” But according to the state attorney’s memo, the guideline alsosays that drowning is not an acceptableprimarymeans of euthanasiaand does not explicitly saywhether the method should be considered appropriate under certain circumstances.
[‘Something was wrong with this cougar’: Animal that killed biker, injured another was emaciated]
Other forms of euthanasia that the AVMA considers unacceptable: burning, rapid freezing, use of cyanide, smothering, hypothermia and drowning.
In Brewton’s case, that he considered other alternatives but found them to be inhumane “casts further doubt” on prosecutors’ ability to prove a crime had occurred beyond a reasonable doubt, the memo states.
And while videos of the incident have been made public, students not Brewton were largely seen in the footage. For prosecutors to use the videos as evidence in court would require them to question the students something to whichmost parents have objected.
Brewton’s early retirement and the intense media scrutiny to which he has been subjected are a “fitting resolution,” the memo states, noting a public reaction for and against Brewton.
Brewton was nominated in 2010 for Teacher of the Year. He also was an adviser for the school’s National FFA Organization club.
Canada Goose sale The club’s alumni group expressed its support for Brewton, Canada Goose sale
canada goose clearance sale A number canada goose outlet mississauga of states, including Florida, allow the killing of nuisance animals as long as doing so complies with local and state ordinances. canada goose clearance sale
Araccoon drowningcase in Pennsylvania had a different resolution. A man accused of doing thatpleaded guiltyin Decemberto two counts of animal cruelty after a judge issued an canada goose alternative uk opinion saying that raccoons deserve protection and that drowning them is prohibited by state law.