Former Bronte Educator Arrested After Public Outcry Over Dragging Student

SAN ANGELO, TX — A former Bronte ISD employee was arrested Friday and charged with assault against an elderly or disabled individual.

Michelle Penner, 56, was released less than two hours after she was booked in Tom Green County Jail.

Penner was recently the target of public outcry after a mother alleged her nonverbal autistic son was assaulted in May at Bronte Elementary School.

A video of the incident showed Penner talking to the child, who was sitting on a porch at the school before she grabbed him and dragged him to his feet. 

The child refused to walk and collapsed onto the sidewalk, and she then started to drag him by one arm for a couple seconds before then struggling to pick him up and carry him.

According to the child’s family members, the school contacted Coke County deputies, showed them the video of the incident and, along with the Bronte ISD superintendent, requested assault charges be filed.

The Coke County district attorney declined to pursue the case because there was not “enough bodily harm,” the family reported. 

The matter was also referred to the district attorney’s office in San Angelo, which likewise took no action, the child’s mother stated.

However, the mother took to social media last week to tell the story, and public outrage immediately followed. 

Not long after, an arrest warrant was issued out of Coke County. 

In a message exchange shared by the child’s family, Penner apologized for her actions involving the child. She wrote that she “got mad at myself,” should have called for help, and that the child “didn’t deserve to have been treated that way.”