Pelham teacher charged after incident

PELHAM, Ga. — A Pelham City Schools elementary teacher was charged Tuesday with four misdemeanors related to an incident in which police say he grabbed a principal during a meeting.

Elementary school teacher Bobby Leonard Edwards, Jr., 48, has been charged with disruption of public school, cruelty to children in the 3rd degree, battery and simple assault, Pelham Police Chief Neely McCormick said.

The incident prompted school officials to lockdown all three Pelham City Schools at the request of the Pelham Police Department, Supt. James Arnold said.

Arnold, who called the incident Tuesday a “non-issue,” wouldn’t say whether any action had been taken by the board, instead, he referenced The Herald to the Pelham City Schools website which hadn’t been updated by Wednesday afternoon.

“(The lockdown) was done as a precautionary measure at the request of the police,” Arnold said. “The students were never in any danger and it turned out to be a non-issue.”

According to an incident report provided by Pelham police, officers responded to Pelham Elementary School around 12:40 p.m. Tuesday. Upon arrival, they met with Principal Torrey Williams who said he was in the midst of a parent-teacher meeting that included Edwards — three women identified as Rosie Almond, Beata Wilkerson, and Assistant Principal Dera Harkins — and an unidentified two-year-old juvenile.

The report states that at some point during the meeting, Edwards walked towards Almond “in an aggressive manner,” prompting the principal to yell “no you can’t do that,” and step between the two.

Edwards then reportedly grabbed Williams by the necktie, struggled with him while saying “You son of a —— , you let this happen,” the report states.

The report goes on to say that Harkins attempted to pull Edwards out of the office, when Edwards is believed to have used his elbow to strike Harkins in the cheek, causing redness.

During the altercation, the report states that Wilkerson was holding the two-year-old juvenile in her lap.