CPS Aide Charged After Alleged Chokehold on 8-Year-Old at Parker Elementary

Overview

• Prosecutors charged Tamika Odeh, 44, with aggravated battery of a child under 13 causing great bodily harm for a November 3 incident inside Parker Elementary in Englewood.
• The detention petition alleges Odeh put the boy in a chokehold, threw him to the lunchroom floor, and dragged him out by the neck.
• Official records say the child struck his head on a chair and suffered ligament damage to his neck, received hospital care, and is still in physical therapy.
• Judge Rivanda Doss Beal denied the state’s detention petition and released Odeh with stay-away orders from the victim, his family, and anyone under 18.
• CPS says Odeh was removed from duty on November 7 and issued a statement emphasizing student safety, as records note an Oak Lawn address in a CPD report and a Chicago address in her CPS file was reported by an anonymous source.