MUSKEGON COUNTY, Mich. — Editors Note: 13 ON YOUR SIDE has redacted the name of the cheerleading coach due to the fact that they were not charged with any crimes.
Prosecutors declined to file charges against the Muskegon-area school employee numerous witnesses accused of nearly hitting a group of middle-schoolers with her car last month.
There wasn’t sufficient evidence against the employee to allow the case to proceed, the Muskegon County Prosecutor’s Office told 13 ON YOUR SIDE via email Wednesday.
Smith works as a cheer coach at Reeths-Puffer High School, where the late March incident allegedly occurred and as an assistant principal at Muskegon High School.
Some parents called for her firing as Muskegon Township Police investigated.
Video taken by a bystander, and later posted to social media, allegedly showed a portion of the interaction that prompted the investigation.
Police reports obtained by 13 ON YOUR SIDE via the Freedom of Information Act revealed the district got police involved after several parents said a member of the Reeths-Puffer coaching staff had nearly hit their children with her vehicle in apparent act of retaliation.
The staff member was later identified as Smith, the district’s competitive cheer coach. The case was turned over to a district school resource officer.
Following up later, officers noted the mother of one of the students present said she had watched Smith “pull in to the parking lot at a high rate of speed,” then “accelerated and stopped short of where the boys were standing.”
She told investigators she believed the driver to be a student playing a joke until she said Smith, cursing, allegedly asked “which one of you… are bullying my son?”
The adult seen at the center of the frame – identified by witnesses as Smith—allegedly arguing with the assembled crowd near the Reeths-Puffer High School tennis courts was referenced later.
A track coach also interviewed by police, reports showed, had seen Smith’s vehicle “parked weird,” and someone “recording students with a cell-phone.”
She called the situation ‘chaotic’ and said that while she hadn’t personally witnessed Smith’s driving, she helped deescalate the subsequent confrontation.
Investigators, meanwhile, had been trying to contact Smith for several days beginning on March 27, reports note.
Police were told that during a phone call with administrators following the incident, the cheer coach allegedly admitted she was driving “faster than she should have.”
Smith reportedly also used the word ‘erratic’ and claimed she was driving on the sidewalk in “mamma bear mode” looking for her son.
The latter, apparently in reference to an earlier incident administrators told police concerned Smith’s son and a group of classmates.
Prior to the encounter, several peers reportedly pulled a cell phone from her son's backpack – and teased him over an alarm that read, more-or-less, ‘don’t forget to do your homework silly goose.’
Two of the three middle-school students later interview by police told investigators they believed they were “going to be hit,” according to reports.
They also claimed to have heard the driver cussing before asking “are these the… kids bullying you?”
All later denied having a hand in teasing Smith’s son.
At the time, mulling a possible reckless driving charge, police later learned the coach had hired a lawyer.
Reviewing the school’s surveillance cameras, however, they found only one visible angle, which showed Smith’s vehicle from a distance, investigators noted.
It appeared to show Smith driving ‘in a normal manner’ and not exhibiting ‘reckless or careless’ behavior.
The prosecutor’s office said that while it didn’t have sufficient evidence to charge Smith with a crime, it couldn’t determine whether a citation should be issued by police.
Both of the school districts which employ Smith said in March that they would look into the situation.
In response to a Wednesday email regarding the decision not to file charges, administrators had either no update to report or said the incident remained under internal investigation.
Reeths-Puffer administrators initially said Smith had been placed on leave, per procedure. Her status remained unclear at the time of publication.
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