PALM BAY — Newly released 911 recordings show a school employee telling dispatchers she had asked someone to tighten a wall-mounted Promethean board days earlier, moments after it fell on a 5-year-old student at Riviera Elementary School.
“I have a student who (unintelligible) a Promethean board off of the door off the wall and land on him,” the caller said, according to the recordings. About a minute later, she reported, “He’s not responsive.” She then added, “And I asked (unintelligible) to tighten this the other day.”
Bellamy Dawkins-Morris died after the interactive display board fell on him Oct. 7. Palm Bay police said the investigation remains active. The district has not said whether the specific board that fell had any issues.
Brevard Public Schools said it completed inspections of more than 3,000 video boards across the district and “found no pattern of improper installations.” Officials said they are awaiting the final inspection report.
Attorney Maegan Bridwell, representing the family, said the firm visited Riviera Elementary on Friday. “It is abundantly clear that there were failures associated with this particular equipment that caused the tragic and unfortunate death of Bellamy,” Bridwell said. “We’re still in the endeavor to find out why this happened and how it happened, and we’re prepared to pursue litigation against those entities responsible, especially in light of the information that we’ve received as of the past couple of weeks since this has happened.”
The district said it would continue cooperating with law enforcement and provide additional information when appropriate.