Jan. 9 (UPI) -- A Kentucky teacher was fired and charged with assault after video footage showed her dragging an autistic boy down the hallway at the school.
The teacher, Trina Abrams, left the 9-year-old boy with sprained wrists and emotional trauma, the boy's mother Angel Nelson said. The boy, Alan Jackson, was new to the school and trying to adapt.
"It broke my heart when I saw the video and I saw all of his classmates and his friends along the way watching him being dragged down the hallway," Nelson told WCHS-TV.
Nelson posted the surveillance video on Facebook. The incident occurred at Wurtland Elementary School in Greenup County, Kentucky on Oct. 24.
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Abrams is due in court Wednesday.
The parent was immediately contacted and the student was assessed by the school nurse before being referred for outside medical evaluation, the school district said in a statement. Child Protective Services and the Kentucky Education Standards Board had both been contacted.
Abrams has been charged with assault in the 4th degree with a victim under 12 years old and given a citation to appear in court, David Boarman with the Kentucky State Police said. He also confirmed that Abrams had been fired.
Nelson transferred her son to another school in the days following the incident. He has been diagnosed with autism, ADHD, PTSD, anxiety and depression and his speech is limited, Nelson posted on Facebook. He is prone to "experiencing a meltdown" because of his diagnosis, she said.
She said she'd like to have more cameras in the school because they don't show everything that occurred and her son can't speak for himself.
"We will never truly know what took place behind the closed door because of my son's speech limitations," Nelson wrote on Facebook. "This incident was violent enough to not only injure my child but to also destroy his shoes."
