A man was arrested April 30 and charged with two counts of felony child abuse or neglect after he was accused of grabbing two students around the neck and shaking them while he was working as a substitute teacher at Fernley Intermediate School on April 20.
James Palu, 40, of Fernley, was taken into custody shortly after Canal Township Justice of the Peace Lori Matheus issued an expedited arrest warrant.
Addressing the Lyon County School District Board of Trustees at its April 28 meeting, Darleen Capps said her son suffered a cervical sprain and a concussion. She said on April 20, her son went to the substitute’s class after lunch, at about 12 p.m. She said the substitute, who introduced himself to the students as Mr. P, wrapped his hands tightly around her son’s neck, then squeezed and shook him violently.
Capps said her son was not seen by the school nurse or permitted to call home and was sent to another class. She said she received a phone call from Principal Blake Cooper but said she hung up and called 911 after he said he hadn’t done so.
“I was assured the protocol was followed. If that is true, then we have some big problems,” Capps said. “We need to find out how this man passed the checks in place to be round children, and we need to fix that.”
On April 29, the Lyon County School District released a statement confirming that the substitute “engaged in inappropriate comments and physical conduct, including grabbing two students by the neck in a shaking and choking motion while attempting to explain his disciplinary approach in the classroom.”
The district’s statement said once the report was confirmed, the substitute was immediately removed from campus and is no longer employed by the district. The statement also said the School Resource Officer was contacted by FIS administration once potential violations of law were confirmed.
In an April 30 interview, a few hours before the arrest, Lyon County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Mitch Brantingham said the investigation consisted of two components—a criminal review of Palu’s conduct and a separate review of how the school administration responded to the incident.
Brantingham said the criminal review established that Palu committed a crime, but he was not arrested immediately because the LCSO was awaiting the results of a medical examination to determine the severity of the charges.
Brantingham said Palu had already been sent home before deputies arrived at the school, but they interviewed several students who confirmed that Palu had placed his hands on students in two different classes.
Brantingham said when deputies later interviewed Palu, he told them he was conducting his introduction to the class and warned the students if they misbehaved, he would “Ring their chicken necks,” but denied touching any students.
“What he told us is that he demonstrated this on himself, which is directly contrary to what the kids in the class said as well as the injuries that were later found,” Brantingham said.
Because neither student had visible injuries, Brantingham said deputies wanted medical records before arresting Palu, so they requested a warrant.
“In this case, this person has been separated from these kids. They’re no longer in immediate danger,” he said. “We want to make sure that we put together the best case possible before we end up in court and that we're not in a place where we have a rushed prelim or trial and we're still waiting for a medical record something like that,” Brantingham said. “So based off of those things, when you look at this case, just shoring up those edges before that arrest occurs is really what they were looking at.”
After LCSO obtained medical records confirming the injuries the student reported, the warrant was expedited and issued on April 30.
A bail hearing for Palu was held May 2 and a status conference was scheduled May 5.
Brantingham said investigators also determined that the school’s response to the incident was appropriate, a finding the Lyon County District Attorney’s Office agreed with. He said mandatory reporting statutes require designated professionals to report suspected child abuse or neglect as soon as practical, no later than within 24 hours.
“The first thing we would want a teacher to do is protect the kids,” Brantingham said.
He said a teacher noticed the student crying on the playground and another teacher alerted the principal.
“This isn't like this principal was sitting in the classroom and watched this happen. He doesn't even find out for a period of time,” Brantingham said. “He goes down, removes the teacher from a classroom, trying to protect the kids. In this circumstance, we see steps that are taken to mitigate that that exist here—removing the teacher, contacting parents, doing those things that need to be done.”
Brantingham said the investigation is ongoing and anyone who has information regarding this case is asked to report it to Deputy J. Vazquez at (775) 463-6600.
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