Warrant: Ex-school staffer had history of ‘abnormal behavior’
WESTPORT — A former Greens Farms Elementary School staff member accused of falling asleep while possibly intoxicated when she was the lone supervisor of a special needs student had a history of “abnormal behavior” at work, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.
Michelle Babin, 32, turned herself in to Westport police last week on an arrest warrant, charging her with risk of injury to a child.
Babin, a Shelton resident, was terminated as a speech and language pathologist for Westport Public Schools on Nov. 23 when other staff members found her asleep and unresponsive at her desk while an 8-year-old nonverbal, autistic child was alone under her supervision, according to her arrest warrant affidavit.
In the warrant, Westport police Detective Ashley DelVecchio said a paraprofessional responsible for the child came to get the boy from Babin’s office, but the door was locked and the shade was drawn over the window.
The paraprofessional knocked several times, but Babin did not open the door, the warrant said.
DelVecchio said school administrators needed to be called to unlock the door. Once they gained access to Babin’s office, she was found “slumped over the back of her chair” with “her head down on her folded arms” while the child sat on the floor in the corner with pile of paper that was torn up, the warrant stated.
The student, who is not supposed to be left unsupervised, was left alone with Babin for about an hour, DelVecchio wrote in the warrant.
“This put the child at great risk of being injured,” police said in a press release announcing the arrest this week.
According to the warrant, the boy’s father said he suspected his son had been eating the paper while left unsupervised, causing him to throw up for two days following the incident.
Westport Public Schools Superintendent Tom Scarice said the incident is a personnel matter and declined to comment when reached on Wednesday.
Scarice and John Bayers, assistant superintendent of human resources and general administration for Westport schools, did not immediately respond to questions on Thursday. Bayers terminated Babin before police arrived at the school the day of the incident and asked for her to be removed from the property, DelVecchio noted in the warrant.
According to the warrant, it took staff at least 30 seconds to wake up Babin once they gained access to her office. After being woken up, Babin “mumbled incoherently” and her breath smelled of alcohol, police said.
Staff members told police this wasn’t the first time Babin had been suspected of being under the influence while at school, the warrant stated.
Last spring, Babin was excused from a parent-teacher conference for “nodding off” and slurring her words, the warrant stated.
Another teacher told police Babin had been reported to administrators several times in the past year for “abnormal behavior,” such as walking around with an “unsteady gait,” “the smell of alcohol on her breath” and “many suspicious visits to her car during the day without mentioning it to another staff member,” the warrant stated.
Babin also told police the school district requested she go on leave in October for “falling asleep at work multiple times,” the warrant said. Babin also told police that she has received inpatient and outpatient treatment for alcohol abuse, the warrant stated.
However, Babin told police the November incident was not alcohol related, the warrant stated. The warrant stated she told police she has an anxiety disorder that results in “a severe lack of sleep,” which causes exhaustion.
Defense attorney Edward Gavin said there was “no finding of alcohol” in Babin’s medical records, which were seized with a warrant.
“Pretty big jump to allege she was intoxicated, in my opinion,”
Gavin said Thursday.
However, a Westport paramedic noted in Babin’s hospital records that he detected she was under the influence, noting a “smell of alcohol on breath,” according to the warrant.
The paramedic also noted that Babin refused all drug and alcohol testing when transported to the hospital following the Nov. 23 incident.
“Patient states her lawyer told her not to consent to any drug/ alcohol testing,” a paramedic wrote in the report, according to the warrant.
Babin, who has been released on $75,000 bond, is scheduled to appear Feb. 16 in state Superior Court in Stamford.