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Jan. 8, 2019, 9:59 PM GMT
By Minyvonne Burke
A Kentucky elementary school teacher has been removed from her school and faces charges of assault after she was seen on video dragging a student with autism down a hallway.
In the minute-long video, shared Sunday on Facebook by the child’s mother, Angel Nelson, the female teacher pulls the boy by his wrists down the hall in front of other students lined against a wall. The incident happened on Oct. 24, according to Nelson.
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“Do you want to walk?,” the teacher, identified as Trina Abrams by county court, asks the boy, to which he responds, “No.”
At one point in the video, Abrams appears to try to get the boy to stand up but he refuses so she continues to drag the child along the floor.
Sherry Horsley, superintendent for Greenup County Schools, told NBC News that Child Protective Services and the state’s education standards board were contacted about the incident. The state police is also looking into it.
The teacher “was removed from the school,” Horsley said.
“The Greenup County School District prioritizes the safety of our students,” the statement read. “All GCSD staff are trained to prevent incidents of restraint. Each school has a specially trained team to address immediate issues. In addition, each school has teachers specially trained to address autism related behaviors.”
Abrams is expected to be arraigned Wednesday on the assault charge, a spokesperson at the county courthouse told NBC.
Nelson told NBC News that her 9-year-old son, who attended Wurtland Elementary school in Greenup County, was diagnosed with autism, ADHD, PTSD, anxiety and depression. She also said he has limited speech.
“When you send your child to school you want them to be safe,” she said. “The teacher is the farthest thing you should worry about.”
Nelson said she was told that her son was doing schoolwork in his classroom when his third-grade teacher “wanted him to do more.”
“He needed a break and they kept pushing him to do more,” she said. When her son started “having an outburst,” a teacher grabbed him by the wrists and dragged him out of the room, the mother said.
She said she learned of the incident hours later when the school called her.
“I worry about him because he does lack speech, and sometimes he can’t express how he’s feeling,” Nelson said. “He doesn’t understand why she did what he did.”
Nelson said she took her son to the emergency room and doctors said he suffered a right wrist sprain. She also removed him from the school and enrolled him at another elementary school.
“He’s doing well. He’s trying to adjust to a new school,” she said. “He still has trust issues.”