Horrific footage shows a ten-year-old autistic boy beaten by his teaching assistant, who allegedly abused at least three children for months, leaving them with bruises and marks.
Kiarra Jones, 29, was charged with third-degree assault of an at-risk person last week and is scheduled to appear for a preliminary hearing on May 3.
In the video provided by Rathod Mohamedbhai LLC Attorneys at Law, the firm representing three families, Jones can be seen repeatedly hitting the child, who suffers from severe autism and has no verbal abilities, while They were sitting together on the school bus.
Heartbroken parents of children at Joshua School in Englewood spoke out Tuesday, alleging abuse on the school bus has continued for months.
“How dare you fail my son in such a shockingly avoidable way? » Jessica Vestal, mother of Dax, who was seen cruelly beaten in the school bus video, said as she wiped away tears.
Horrific footage shows a ten-year-old autistic boy beaten by his teaching assistant, who allegedly abused at least three children for months, leaving them with nasty bruises and marks.
Kiarra Jones, 29, was charged with third-degree assault of an at-risk person last week and is scheduled to appear for a preliminary hearing on May 3.
Three children were allegedly abused by Jones while traveling on a specialized school bus operated by Littleton Public Schools.
Three children were allegedly abused by Jones while traveling on a specialized school bus operated by Littleton Public Schools.
They took the bus every day between their home and the Joshua School, a special school providing one-on-one teaching for autistic students.
According to Joshua School Executive Director Cyndy Lystad, Joshua School operates independently of Littleton Public Schools.
School bus video from March 18 shows Jones first elbowing Dax in the stomach, then punching him in the face before slamming the ten-year-old’s head against the bus window.
The boy was beaten so badly that his head was thrown back and hit the seat, investigators who watched the video wrote in documents.
In photos released by the family’s attorney, the autistic child had severe bruising on his feet from the March 18 incident, but other evidence shows he suffered cuts to his lips and bruises to his neck two months ago.
Vestal said she contacted the school and texted Jones immediately after noticing injuries to her son’s foot and thigh.
The next day, he was told Jones would be charged with abuse given surveillance footage of the school bus going to and from Joshua School.
Heartbroken parents of children at Joshua School in Englewood spoke out Tuesday, alleging abuse on the school bus has continued for months.
“How dare you fail my son in such a shockingly avoidable way? » Jessica Vestal (pictured with her husband Devon), mother of Dax, who was seen cruelly beaten in the school bus video, said as she wiped away tears
Around September, the three families noticed unexplained injuries on their children, including scratches, bruises, a lost tooth, a broken toe, a black eye and other deep bruises on their bodies and feet, said their lawyer. Pictured: Brittany Yarborough (right) and Jessica (left) whose children were on Jones’ bus
Vestal said she was in shock and couldn’t even finish watching the video, as reported by the Denver Post.
“I was immediately in disbelief: How could someone I trusted, someone I was so friendly with, could do this to my little boy,” Vestal said after broadcasting the video during the conference.
The devastated mother said she bought Jones Christmas presents, made her tea when she was unwell and the pair texted each other from time to time.
Between last September and March of this year. Vestal has a record of 15 dates where she found Dax injured, and she was told that three of those dates coincided with footage of Jone’s alleged abuse, she said.
But Dax is just one of many children who have come home from school injured, as three families have now spoken out, detailing their experiences and demanding justice for their autistic children.
“My son doesn’t have the ability to tell me when someone is hurting him. My son doesn’t have the capacity he was forced to watch someone hurt his friends,” said Kevin Yarbrough, father of a severely autistic, non-verbal 11-year-old boy on Jones’ bus.
“My son was mistreated by people specially put in place to protect him,” he said in a trembling voice.
In one of the photos made available by the family’s lawyer, the child’s right ear can be seen bleeding after he got off the bus one day in October.
A month earlier, the boy, who suffered from life-threatening autism, suffered a broken toe and was taken to the hospital, his parents said.
“My husband and I have struggled to find the words to adequately express how incredibly horrified and appalled we are,” said the third mother alleging Jones of abuse.
Parents said that sometimes children with autism could get injured from time to time, and they all attributed these mysterious, unexplained injuries to accidents.
“This is a child who is self-harming. Unfortunately, we generally assume he did this to himself,” Yarbrough said.
She added: “I feel betrayed. We fight so hard with districts, schools, and teachers to make sure kids have everything they need in their IEP (Individualized Education Program).
“I never thought about the bus for a second because it seems so basic… We assume that they keep our children safe because that’s their duty. Now I feel like we’re going to question everyone forever.
“I’m sure a lot of people would say, ‘Why would you release that video of your child?’ If you don’t look at it, the words don’t encompass it,” Vestal said.
“If he were to experience this, the least everyone could do is pay attention so it doesn’t happen again.”
Three families noticed unexplained injuries on their children, including scratches, bruises, a lost tooth, a broken toe, a black eye and other deep bruises on their bodies and feet, their attorney said.
In photos released by the family’s attorney, the autistic child had severe bruising on his feet from the March 18 incident, but other evidence shows he suffered cuts to his lips and bruises to his neck two months ago.
Around September, the three families noticed unexplained injuries on their children, including scratches, bruises, a lost tooth, a broken toe, a black eye and other deep bruises on their bodies and feet, said their lawyer in a press release.
They also observed significant changes in their children’s behaviors and reported their concerns to the school.
In an email to Joshua School in January, Vestal asked about bruising on her son’s arm, neck and thigh.
“We reviewed the video and nothing out of the ordinary happened during the ride home,” Littleton District Transportation Operations Supervisor Michelle Molina wrote in an email.
According to the lawyer representing the families, the Joshua School expressed its belief that abuse was occurring on the bus to Littleton Public Schools (LPS).
“LPS reviewed a single bus ride and determined there was no cause for concern and provided no additional oversight, allowing months of uninterrupted abuse to continue,” it says. the press release.
After Jones’ arrest this month, Littleton Public Schools released a statement saying Jones was hired in August after “satisfactory reference checks and an extensive background check.”
“She had very limited access to students during her employment at LPS. She has had no contact with students since March 19, the day her employment was terminated,” the statement said.
dailymail us
