Background: News footage of the 4-year-old girl who was hospitalized with high levels of ethanol in her system (WALA). Inset: Tracy Walker (Mobile County Sheriff’s Office).
An arrest was made in the case of a 4-year-old Alabama girl who was hospitalized after coming home from school with dangerously high levels of ethanol in her system.
Tracy Walker, 56, is a teacher at the school where the 4-year-old daughter of Mary and Albert Singleton was brought to the nurse’s office “slobbering at the mouth” and limp. According to records from the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office, Walker was arrested on Wednesday and charged with aggravated child abuse. After the story was covered on local Fox affiliate WALA, police launched an investigation into what could have happened to the little girl, who spent two days in the ICU with a 0.29 blood alcohol content.
As previously reported by Law&Crime, the Singletons said that two minutes before classes were dismissed on April 28, they got a call from the nurse’s office about their daughter’s condition. Mary Singleton told WALA that her little girl was “slobbering at the mouth, she was heavy, and the teacher handed her to me saying we probably needed to take her to the ER.”
When the couple brought the girl to USA Children’s and Women’s Hospital, it was discovered that the girl had a 0.29 BAC level, more than 3 1/2 times the legal limit for an adult. The girl spent two days in the ICU before she was released from the hospital. WALA reported that the girl was not able to return for the rest of the school year due to her recovery.
Law&Crime reported earlier this month that an investigation had begun, and the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office took the lead on the case on May 6. On Tuesday, Walker was arrested. According to WALA, the little girl told detectives with the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office that her teacher had given her a drink that later made her feel sick.
According to the website for Collins-Rhodes Elementary School, which the Singleton girl attended, Walker is listed as a special-education teacher. The school told WALA in a statement that Walker had been placed on administrative leave following the first allegations against her.
As of Thursday, Walker was still being held in custody without bond. WALA reported that a bond hearing was scheduled for Friday.
