May 1, 2019
On Friday, April 26, a 14 year old 8th grade
Chiefland Middle/High School student was arrested by LCSO School Resource
Deputy John Gulledge for battery on teacher.
The arrest occurred after Holden Andy Meeks and his class mates were
instructed by their teacher to complete work over a twenty minute period during
a special session in the school’s library. Once their work was completed, the
teacher would allow them to have “free time.” Meeks did not complete his work and after the
twenty minutes elapsed he wanted his free time and was told no by the teacher.
Meeks became irate with the teacher and tried to walk out of the library. The
teacher asked him where he was going and stepped in front of him as he attempted
to exit the room. Meeks began screaming at the teacher and then shoved her out
of the way and left the room.
Meeks was located on campus by school officials and escorted
to the Dean’s office. Deputy Gulledge interviewed Meeks’ classmates and the
teacher and determined a battery of a school official had occurred. Under Florida law, this crime is a
felony. Meeks was arrested and transported
to the Levy County Detention Facility where he was processed and released to
his parents. Levy County School officials will conduct an expulsion hearing
later to determine if Meeks will be allowed to return to Levy County Schools.
Sheriff McCallum said that cases such as these will be
investigated by our full time School Resource Deputies and arrests will be
made. He said school faculty members and staff have a difficult job educating
our children and their duties do not include being battered. Students need to
understand that if they batter school personnel, there will be consequences and
these consequences could include being arrested.