Man speaks after school employee collapsed and died

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (WSVN) -- A South Florida man is telling his side of the story after a teacher assistant collapsed and died.

Shakeris Austrie is speaking out for the first time and wants to set the record straight. "I ain't gonna lie. I'm gonna keep it real. I did throw some threats, but it wasn't to Mrs. Cooper," said Austrie.

Austrie said he was outraged at Kelsey Pharr Elementary School for releasing his 5-year-old child to someone else without his permission on Wednesday.

He said he then got into an argument with a security guard, and outside the school was 66-year-old Jinnie Cooper.

Police said somehow the teacher's aid got involved in the situation and collapsed and died at the hospital. "I never approached Mrs. Cooper. Mrs. Cooper approached me, and I simply said six words to her: 'I don't want to talk to you,'" said Austrie. "She must have been upset for the simple fact that she was like, 'Oh, my God, I don't know where your child is.'"

Cooper's family is devastated. "She had the opportunity to retire, but she wanted to be there for those kids," said Cooper's niece, Lorna Uptgrow.

Miami-Dade Police is now investigating Cooper's death, but said Cooper had a pre-existing medical condition and died of natural causes.

Austrie was arrested by school police after they said he fled when they arrived and resisted arrest. Austrie said he doesn't know why police arrested him. "Why they arrested me, I don't know because when I went out there to the school, and I'm raising a little hell because my child is missing, and they just gave him away," he said. "The police, all they want to do, they want to do their protocol and their protocol is ask you for ID, I didn't have ID."

Austrie said he never initiated an argument with Cooper and feels for her family. "Like I said, I send my deepest condolences. I apologize by the fact that that happened, but that was out of my control," he said.

In the meantime, grief counselors at the school on Thursday were counseling the children. Cooper had been with the district for 15 years, and every student at the school loved her.

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