A Texas special education teacher and two paraprofessionals were thrown behind bars for allegedly taping up the hands of a student with Down syndrome and forcing the youngster to walk in circles for more than four hours while being cursed at, according to police and reports.
Krystina Rena Haas, 35; Prisicilla Gutierrez, 22; and June Tryon, 57, were arrested Friday after police obtained surveillance footage of the alleged heinous abuse inside the Tyler High School classroom on March 12, according to court records obtained by CBS 19.
The disturbing incident lasted about four hours and 15 minutes, police said.
“It’s not going to hurt them to stand for four hours or to walk,” Haas, the special education teacher, said during an interview with police the day before her arrest, court documents showed.
“They’re not precious babies, they’re 14 or 15-year-old teenage kids.”
Police said the special needs student was sent to a life skills room around 11:30 a.m. and instructed to walk in circles.
Two hours later, Haas was seen storming across the room where she screamed in the student’s face before telling Tyron, her aide, to “get the tape,” the outlet reported.
Tryon, with Gutierrez’s assistance, used packing tape to bind the student’s hands together so his fingers couldn’t move. Haas later added more tape to tighten the wrapping, according to police records.
Gutierrez, the other classroom aide, reportedly sat back down and crocheted as the child was forced to continue walking in circles for another 30 minutes. He was then placed in the corner of the room where he stood for an hour and 44 minutes until he was dismissed for the day, police said.
The boy’s grandmother reported the incident to the school district after she picked up her emotional and bruised grandchild from the bus.
Haas, who defended the brutality, told police it is common practice to make students walk around the room for 10 to 15 minutes if they misbehave.
She claimed the boy was punished after he repeatedly flipped her off and refused to complete his work, court records showed.
She said he was the only student whose hands were ever taped – but that it happened once before.
The three employees were each charged with injury to a child, elderly individual or disabled individual and booked at the Smith County Jail – Haas on $300,000 bond, and the other two each on $150,000.
The cold-hearted educators were also fired from the school district following their arrests.
“We believe in being transparent with our community while respecting the legal process and student privacy,” the Tyler Independent School District said in a statement, KETK reported.
“This situation involved a student with disabilities, while it did not include sexual acts or severe bodily harm, we take any breach of student safety with the utmost seriousness. As soon as these allegations were brought to our attention, the district took immediate action – launching an internal investigation, notifying Child Protective Services as required by state law, and fully cooperating with law enforcement.”
