Two educators charged with manslaughter in Western Mass. 12-year-old's 2024 drowning death
EarlGiver Essien, who primarily went by 'Giver,' died on July 17, 2024, during an outing at Beartown State Forest in Great Barrington that was part of a summer learning program at her middle school, the district attorney's office said. The Herberg Middle School student would've turned 13 later that month, according to her obituary.
Berkshire County District Attorney Timothy Shugrue is set to share information about the suspects and allegations in the case Thursday morning during a press conference. But according to The Berkshire Eagle, the two people charged in the case are Linda Whitacre and Meghan Braley — both of whom helped run the school summer program Giver was attending when she died.
On Wednesday, a Berkshire County grand jury indicted Whitacre, 68, and Braley, 30, on one count each of manslaughter, reckless endangerment of a child and permitting injury to a child, according to court records. Neither woman had a lawyer listed with Berkshire County Superior Court as of Wednesday evening, and their arraignments had not been scheduled.
Both Whitacre and Braley helped run the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program — the program Giver was attending when she drowned — at Pittsfield Public Schools last summer. The federally funded program aims to increase learning time for students after school and over the summer.
Whitacre was the district coordinator for the learning program, the Eagle reported. She is currently listed as its interim grant coordinator on Pittsfield Public Schools' website.
Braley was the program's site supervisor, according to her LinkedIn profile. She was also a seventh-grade English teacher at Herberg Middle School for three years before Giver's death, but left this position before the beginning of the 2024-25 school year.
Pittsfield Superintendent Joseph Curtis didn't return a request for comment on the indictments Wednesday evening.
After Giver's death, witnesses connected to the case alleged that the program's leaders did not do swim tests with the students to assess their skill level — even though state law required them to do so, the Eagle reported.
Christian's Law mandates that all municipal and recreational programs and licensed camps determine the swimming ability of all underage campers before they are allowed to swim. It also requires that summer programs and camps provide life jackets and other flotation devices to all children who swim poorly or not at all.
The Massachusetts Legislature passed the law in 2012 — five years after a 4-year-old Sturbridge boy drowned while swimming without a life jacket during a town summer camp program. The law, which was named after the boy, was adopted in the hope of preventing future children who struggle with swimming from drowning.
Witnesses say there was a lifeguard on duty while the students swam during the field trip last summer, the Eagle reported. No adults realized that Giver was missing until after the students got out of the water to change and a head count was conducted.
It is not clear how long Giver was underwater before she was brought to shore, the Eagle reported. CPR was performed in an unsuccessful attempt to revive her.
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