Teacher arrested after threatening family with bat and gun on camera over flooding frustrations

BATON ROUGE, La. — Demetra Lewis’ neighborhood is known to flood, but she never thought taking an alternate route home would be the wrong turn.

Lewis was driving through a flood with her family when they encountered Bridgette Digerolamo, 38.

“She starts yelling, ‘Turn this f-ing truck around,’” said Lewis. “She took the bat and she hit the mirror on the truck and so it just folded in.”

In the backseat, Lewis’ daughter recorded the incident. In the video, you can hear the exchange as Lewis gets out of the truck to check for damage. She said, before she knew it, the bat was on the ground and she was staring at a gun.

“My daughter starts yelling and screaming, ‘Mom, get back in the car, get back in the car! She has a gun!’”

The East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office confirmed that Digerolamo, a physical education teacher at Broadmoor Elementary School, did point a handgun at the family. According to the affidavit, Digerolamo said she feared for her life.

“Her neighbors were trying to talk her into putting the gun down and going in the house. The neighbors came to us and told us to just go, she is going through something,” said Lewis.

She said she never thought anything like this could happen to her and fears one wrong move could have resulted in deadly consequences.

“The actions of yourself can take and damage your whole career, your whole life,” said Lewis. “I mean, if she had shot and killed me, she has a 2-year-old child. I have a 16-year-old child. There you have two mothers gone. She is going to jail, I’m not here. So, think of your actions.”

Digerolamo was charged with aggravated assault with a firearm and criminal damage to property and released on bond.