A former Burke County middle school teacher who manhandled a special needs student was allowed to plead guilty to misdemeanor charges in a manner that could mean the criminal case is erased from his record.
He may still face possible professional consequences.
Rashad Clifford Carter, 43, was arrested the afternoon of Feb. 11, 2021, after a Burke County Sheriff’s Office investigation of an incident at Burke County Middle School. The incident occurred as students were released early.
Carter was indicted on charges of aggravated assault and cruelty to children.
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District Attorney Jared Williams handled Carter’s sentencing Aug. 20 at which time Carter plead guilty in Burke County Superior Court to the reduced charges of disorderly conduct and battery.
Chief Judge Daniel J. Craig sentenced Carter to 12 months’ probation under the First Offender Act. Carter was ordered to take an anger management course and stay away from the victim and his brother. The victim’s mother signed an affidavit acknowledging she spoke with Williams and Carter’s defense attorney about the plea negotiation.
The Burke County Board of Education accepted Carter’s resignation in lieu of termination, said Amy Nunnally, public information officer for the school system. A complaint about the incident was sent to the Georgia Professional Standards Commission, which certifies teacher in Georgia, Nunnally said. Carter worked for the school system for 14 years.
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The commission confirmed it received the complaint. An email response from the commission reads, “The case is currently in the due process stage awaiting a hearing. As long as the educator’s ethics case is still pending, his certification remains valid.” It could be months before a hearing is set.
The sheriff’s investigative report from the district attorney’s file on Carter’s case, obtained under an Open Records Act request, details what happened in the incident. According to statements from five other teachers who witnessed the incident, and the school’s video camera footage, Carter grabbed, pushed and shoved the student, and twice fell on top of the boy before another teacher intervened and the child was allowed to leave the school.
It happened in the school’s seventh grade hallway as students were leaving for the day. In the video, the victim is seen walking against the flow next to the wall of lockers on the right-hand side of the hall. Carter comes after the boy, dropping a book bag he was carrying at the feet of a fellow teacher.
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According to witnesses, Carter grabbed the student by the neck and steered him around to go with the flow of other children leaving, but the boy tried to turn back to the classroom where he had left his bookbag. In the film, the boy looks to be half the size of Carter, if not less.
According to the investigative report, Carter pushes the boy into the lockers lining the left side of the hallway and propels him along until they fall into the open doorway of a classroom. Carter appears to pull the boy up and then push him farther down the hall until they fall into a second open classroom, according to the report. Another teacher told Sheriff Sgt. William Loomer that she got Carter off the victim and told the boy to leave his bookbag behind and go to his bus.
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The student told the investigator he asked permission from the teacher in charge of the in-school suspension that day if he could go get his bookbag from another classroom and was told yes. He heard Carter say he couldn’t go down the hall, but he believed since he had permission he could, the student told the investigator.
Statements from six teachers described in similar fashion what they saw in the hallway. All six said Carter was the aggressor. The boy never hit Carter. A seventh teacher told the investigator the next day that it was the student who was the aggressor and he was hitting Carter “hard.” An eighth teacher told the investigator he didn’t see what happened.
The aggravated assault charge was based on the boy’s statement that Carter had choked him by squeezing his neck during one of the times they had hit the floor. The cruelty to children charge was based on the pushing and shoving of the student into and along the lockers.
When officers arrived at the school that afternoon, Carter was still there. He chose to remain silent, only calling out to the principal and another staff member to, “Call my daddy,” as he was being led out in handcuffs, according to the investigative report.
Clifford Carter, an assistant Burke County Magistrate Court judge, arrived at the sheriff’s department as Carter was being booked. He asked the detectives who he needed to speak to get the charges “lowered,” according to the report.
Carter’s parents signed for his $28,900 bond the next day.
Sandy Hodson is a staff reporter covering courts for The Augusta Press. Reach her at sandy@theaugustapress.com.
