Former Hilton Head elementary teacher pleads guilty in 2024 parking lot assault
A former teacher at a Hilton Head Island elementary school pleaded guilty to lesser charges following her arrest last summer for allegedly trying to hit a man with her car in a parking lot.
Michelle Latress Howard, 51, of Hilton Head, received no prison time for the two misdemeanor convictions but would serve an 18-month probation period that included anger management classes, according to Beaufort County judicial records.
Chief Judge LaShonda Green Scott handed down the sentence April 25 at the Beaufort County Courthouse.
Howard previously taught fifth grade at the Hilton Head Island Elementary School for the Creative Arts, a public school that combines an arts curriculum with traditional academic classes. The school has an enrollment of about 500 students from preschool to fifth grade.
Following her June 2024 arrest, Howard was placed on paid administrative leave from the Beaufort County School District. Spokesperson Candace Bruder said Thursday that Howard was “no longer an employee” of the district.
Howard’s educator certificate was reinstated Wednesday by the South Carolina Board of Education after it was temporarily suspended in December due to the pending charges. The order of reinstatement, signed by board chair Rita Allison, said Howard had “no other allegations” that warranted suspension of her teaching license.
Court records show Howard’s initial felony charge of first-degree assault and battery was downgraded to a third-degree offense, making it a misdemeanor.
A Hilton Head defense attorney who represented Howard did not immediately respond to an email sent with questions.
Details of the arrest
Beaufort County deputies arrested Howard the evening of June 21, 2024, following a clash with another driver over her paid parking spot at the Bluffton-area Emerson Isles apartments.
Howard told police on scene that a Lincoln was parked in front of her spot and the driver refused to move, so she “inched up” toward the car with her vehicle. The driver then stood between the two vehicles and began kicking her car before jumping onto the hood, according to her statement documented in a Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office incident report.
But statements from other witnesses — including three people who were not involved in the incident — told a different story, the police report says.
Calling Howard the “primary aggressor,” the witnesses said she backed up her car, accelerated forward and “intentionally rammed” into the Lincoln at around 10 mph. The driver of the Lincoln, who was standing between the two vehicles, jumped onto the hood “to avoid being struck” by the encroaching vehicle, they told police.
Howard left the scene of the collision “to go back to her friend’s house,” she told deputies. Her friend, who was in the passenger seat at the time of the incident, declined to give a written statement to police.
Officers on scene noted the plastic on the Lincoln’s rear bumper was “punctured and cut” and that the damage lined up with witnesses’ account of the events.
Howard was released from the Beaufort County jail the day after her arrest on a personal recognizance bond, meaning she would not have to pay bail unless she violated court conditions.
