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West Melbourne, FL. – The State Attorney’s Office for Florida’s 18th Judicial Circuit has decided not to move forward with criminal charges against Shona T. Little, the former Pineapple Cove Academy teaching assistant who was arrested in October after a child was later diagnosed with a serious arm injury.
The case drew widespread attention across Brevard County, then reignited online after The Space Coast Rocket published the full classroom video of the incident (with children’s faces blurred). The comment thread quickly topped 1,400 comments, and the overwhelming public reaction based on the video was that Little should never have been charged with a first degree felony.
Little was arrested and initially charged with aggravated child abuse after investigators reviewed surveillance footage from Pineapple Cove Academy and documented what they believed was improper handling of a child by the wrist. Ex-West Melbourne teaching assi…
In the arrest-warrant affidavit, investigators described a brief sequence in which the child is seen being held by the wrist, followed by movement that authorities interpreted as forceful enough to cause injury.
According to the parents, the child was taken to the hospital and medical records later referenced a fracture diagnosis and instructions to follow up with an orthopedic surgeon.
Pineapple Cove Academy told us that after reviewing the video, Little was terminated because the school believed she violated its handling policy by holding the child by the hand.
However, the school said it did not see malicious intent in the video, but did see a clear violation of policy, and the school’s statement noted that the Department of Children and Families did not accept the incident report because it did not meet DCF’s criteria.
In an email response to The Space Coast Rocket, State Attorney’s Office PIO Matt Reed relayed the prosecutor’s stated rationale for the no file decision, saying there was “insufficient evidence to file criminal charges,” and that the state could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Little was trying to inflict physical abuse on the child.
A “no file” decision generally means prosecutors are not filing an Information at this time, which effectively ends the case in its current posture unless new evidence emerges or the state revisits the matter within applicable deadlines.
When we published the classroom footage and invited readers to watch and decide for themselves, the response was immediate and intense.
While some commenters said the school was right to fire Little for violating policy, the dominant theme across more than 1,400 comments was that the aggravated child abuse charge was wildly disproportionate to what viewers believed the video showed. Many argued it looked like what any parent would do in the same situation, not an act of willful abuse worthy of a first degree felony. “If she’s guilty, then all parents of toddlers are guilty,” one commenter said.
Sean Williams, a spokesperson for Pineapple Cove, said the school believed releasing the video was the right move to demonstrate its commitment to transparency and to allow the public to decide for themselves whether the severe charges filed by the West Melbourne Police Department were warranted.
Even with prosecutors declining to file, the consequences of a high-profile arrest do not simply vanish.
A felony child abuse arrest can be career-ending for someone who works in childcare. It can also follow a person online indefinitely, as their name becomes permanently linked to headlines, mug shots, and social media posts about “child abuse,” regardless of the final outcome. Add in the weeks of public speculation, viral sharing, and harsh commentary, and the damage can extend far beyond the courtroom.
For Little, the case has played out in public from the beginning: first the arrest and allegations, then the release of video, then months of debate about what the footage actually showed, and now the state’s decision not to proceed.
As of now, the state is not pursuing charges. For the community, that closes one chapter, but it also leaves behind bigger questions that many readers raised from day one:
How should childcare staff physically intervene when a child is melting down, going limp, or attempting to bolt, and where is the line between a policy violation and a felony?
And when video exists, should serious charges be filed first, or should the footage be weighed more heavily before someone’s life is permanently altered by a booking photo and a headline?
