Florida elementary school principal choked, beat student with cable in shocking caught-on-camera assault
A former Florida elementary school principal is facing multiple charges for supposedly holding a student in a choke hold, striking him with a cable, and inflicting other gruesome injuries.
Dontay Akeem Prophet – the principal at Destiny Leadership Academy in Ocala – was arrested Saturday on charges of aggravated child abuse and false imprisonment of a child under 13, Click Orlando reported.
Prophet was caught on surveillance footage entrapping a male child inside a classroom for over 40 minutes, the outlet said, citing the Marion County Sheriff’s Office.
In the clip, Prophet can be seen on the video grabbing the young student by the arm before holding him down and placing him in a chokehold.
The 33-year-old was also caught swatting the boy with a charging cable hard enough for the student to fall over, the video showed.
The principal then twisted the boy’s ankle and slapped him in the face.
“Dontay Prophet started touching the child and pushing on him, and it turned into where he started to physically abuse the child,” said Valerie Strong of the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, according to WESH.
The authorities confronted Prophet with the video evidence during his arrest, Click Orlando revealed.
“I don’t know if you know this or not, but there’s a security camera in that room,” a deputy said in released body-camera footage.
“There is?” Prophet replied.
The educator claimed that the altercation was an attempt to prevent the boy from hurting himself – though investigators say the footage clearly disproves this version of events.
Prophet is currently being held without bail, according to Marion County records.
He is due back in court on June 11.
Destiny Leadership Academy – which boasts a “K-5th grade education with Christian principles” – fired Prophet in the wake of his arrest, WESH reported.
On Monday, the school held a meeting to discuss the incident with parents.
“Why would he do that, what was the reasoning? What was going on in their heads to do something like that?” demanded Dominique Hernandez, who was considering enrolling her brother at the academy.
Destiny Leadership Academy did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for a comment.
