Ex-Garfield Heights assistant principal Lindsey Komora sentenced for assaulting middle school student

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CLEVELAND (WJW) — A former assistant principal at a local middle school charged with strangling a student during an altercation in the school’s cafeteria was sentenced to probation.

Lindsey Komora, 40, of Northfield, was indicted in December on two felony counts of strangulation as well as a misdemeanor count of assault for the May 4, 2023, incident. As part of a plea deal, she pleaded guilty Monday to the assault charge, while the strangulation charges were dismissed.

A Cuyahoga County judge sentenced Komora to one year of probation and ordered her to complete 80 hours of community service, as well as an anger management program, court records show. If she violates her probation, she could face up to 180 days in jail.

Komora, the former assistant principal of Garfield Heights Middle School, was seen on video putting then-13-year-old Ro’Shon Ballard in a headlock after he began arguing with another student in the school’s cafeteria.

“I don’t remember everything, but I remember my friends and my cousin were right there. Then I blacked out,” Ballard said at the time. “That’s when we got up and we were about to fight when they got the security guard. Got him, but he left and was out of the cafeteria.”

The boy’s mother Robbin said she was notified of “an altercation at the school,” but said she didn’t know that her son was put in a chokehold until she saw the video on social media.

Komora was placed on paid administrative leave following the incident and ultimately terminated on Sept. 30, a Garfield Heights City Schools spokesperson confirmed.