On January 13, 2025, St. John’s High School in Charleston, South Carolina, proudly shared a photo of its Teacher of the Year for the 2024-25 school year. Sade Delesia Nacheyle Nelson smiled proudly as she accepted her award and a bouquet of flowers. In a surprising turn in November, however, Nelson was put on administrative leave following an October incident at a local Walmart. Nelson allegedly assaulted her child’s father and his girlfriend during a custody exchange and is now facing multiple charges.
Nelson and her baby’s father met up at a Walmart in Summerville to exchange custody of their son, WCIV reported. Summerville police arrived a short time later, following a report of an assault. According to police, at one point, Nelson allegedly tried to hit the man with her car. Multiple witnesses told police they saw Nelson punching the man and his girlfriend.
Surveillance video reportedly shows Nelson speeding up and the man jumping out of the way to avoid being struck by her vehicle. The teacher of the year reportedly told police the man had attacked her.
Charleston County School District spokesperson Andy Pruitt told WCIV the district had no comment about the case. “Because this is a personnel matter and an active investigation, the district cannot provide any additional details at this time,” Pruitt said.
As the story spread, Nelson’s supporters shared their thoughts on the incident online.
“Like ain’t no way they plastering this girl all over like this now fr over something that ain’t even happen at school…They act like she kill somebody or f— a student tf… that so hell man,” someone wrote November 10 on Facebook.
“They need to show that constituent board lady that just got arrested this much too,” another commenter wrote.
“Some parts of ppl personal business is just that PERSONAL,” someone agreed. “Teachers are still human too.”
A friend wrote that she tried to console Nelson following her newfound viral fame.
“I literally just told her last night Somebody inboxing those pages cause ain’t nobody way in hell man,” the person commented on the post.
Many felt like Nelson’s business was personal.
“Exactly! S— wasn’t even that serious,” another person commented.
Nelson faces charges of third-degree assault and battery, domestic violence of a high aggravated nature, and unlawfully placing a child at risk of or causing harm or willfully abandoning a child, per WCIV.
These allegations are serious. If she’s innocent, fine. But if she did commit the crimes, it seems like a pretty big deal. Trying to hit someone with your car and physically attacking another person is never OK. No, it didn’t happen at school or involve anyone she worked with, but it’s still behavior unbecoming of a teacher tasked with molding children’s futures.
In a world where someone’s always watching, we have to be on our best behavior at all times. Just like we tell our kids.
