A judge has closed the case against a fired Dreyfoos School of the Arts teacher who, after learning of a loved one’s rumored affair, drove into a car carrying a pregnant woman and two children, then fled.
Circuit Judge Sherri Collins said prosecutors missed a June 4 deadline to file charges against 50-year-old Nathaniel Rayman. Reached July 15, State Attorney spokesperson Marc Freeman said the case is pending review, suggesting charges may still come.
“A filing decision has not been made,” Freeman said.
Scott Richardson, Rayman’s defense attorney, declined to comment.
Deputies arrested Rayman for the hit-and-run in April after finding the teacher at his Royal Palm Beach home with glassy eyes and a wrecked car. They booked him into the Palm Beach County Jail on charges ofaggravated assault with a deadly weapon and leaving the scene of a crash, felonies punishable by five years in prison.
Rayman pleaded not guilty to both. He spent 10 days in jail before posting $5,000 bail, released on the condition that he avoid drugs and alcohol and submit to random drug testing.
The Palm Beach County School District fired Rayman on June 2, two days before Collins closed the case.
Teacher said he didn’t remember striking cars
According to deputies, Rayman crashed his sedan into a white Toyota at the intersection of Wildcat Way and Okeechobee Boulevard, next to Royal Palm Beach High School, at 3:20 p.m. on Easter Sunday.
Witnesses told deputies Rayman came to a brief stop before driving “at full speed” toward a Kia, striking it, too. Lentajia Lewis, a stranger to Rayman, was in the car with her 6-year-old daughter and 3-year-old son.
Deputies didn’t describe the damage to either the white Toyota or the Kia but said Palm Beach County Fire Rescue drove Lewis to St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach on account of her pregnancy. Her children were not injured; their great-grandmother arrived at the scene and collected them both.
After the crash, deputies say Rayman continued on Wildcat Way, where he struck a stop sign, a mailbox and a cable box before returning home. Deputies followed him there with the help of a witness who wrote down his license plate number.
Rayman told deputies he didn’t remember hitting either car and believed he’d only struck a mailbox. He said he’d been looking for the driver of a white Toyota, a woman he believed had cheated on him.
Arrested Dreyfoos teacher says he ‘lost his mind and his life’
In a recorded interview at Palms West Hospital, Rayman said he “lost it” after learning of the alleged affair.
“He said he lost his mind and his life the previous night,” his arresting officer wrote.
He told the deputy he’d drunk about six beers because he was sad about the suspected betrayal and had “never been in such a dark place.”
Rayman joined Dreyfoos’ theater department in February 2021. In a message to parents in the wake of his arrest, Principal Blake Bennett said he was placed on administrative leave and was the subject of an internal investigation.
“Please note that these charges are not related to our school or our students,” Bennett wrote. “The School District takes this matter very seriously and expects all employees to adhere to the highest standards of professional conduct.”
Hannah Phillips is a journalist covering public safety and criminal justice at The Palm Beach Post. Reach her at hphillips@pbpost.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Judge closes hit-and-run case against fired Dreyfoos teacher. Here’s why
Reporting by Hannah Phillips, Palm Beach Post / Palm Beach Post
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By Hannah Phillips, Palm Beach Post | USA TODAY Network
