Lawsuit accuses North Texas school therapist of throwing autistic child against a wall
NORTH RICHLAND HILLS — An arrest warrant was issued for a North Richland Hills day school therapist, accused of throwing a 7-year-old non-verbal autistic child against a wall.
North Richland Hills Police are also investigating the behavior health center for accusations of child abuse.
The school is not only the center of a police investigation but also at the center of a lawsuit by that autistic child's family.
The family claims the school was supposed to be a place of learning, but instead became a place of fear.
The school at the center of the suit is called ABA Interactive Behavioral Health. The North Richland Hills day school is designed to help children with autism learn in a controlled environment.
According to the lawsuit, one of those students came home with a visible scratch mark on his face back on June 20. The lawsuit alleges the school told the family their non-verbal autistic child had a behavioral episode and inflicted the scratch on himself.
The boy's parents claim the school's owner would not let them see the video of the incident because it was against the school's policy.
The lawsuit goes on to say, the parents were able to watch a copy of the video, which shows a therapist "picking up the child by his collar. The therapist then pushes the boy into a corner, stepping on another autistic child in the process, and throws the boy against a wall with her hands around his neck.
The family's lawyer, Wesley Gould, says police now have evidence of the therapist abusing other children.
"The fact that it happened was disgusting, but on top of that the fact that this establishment covered it up, after knowing what it happened and brushed it under the rug," said Gould. "And the police department found other cases where this therapist harmed other children and she never reported it. It's a wholesale of just level of bad acting and anybody that goes to that facility."
Gould said it has been very hard for the family and will leave emotional damage on the child.
"If I was the parents of this young child, I don't know what I would do," Gould said. "But more importantly, outrage, the fear more importantly, the absolute mistrust of a system that's failed them. This type of case is shocking to everyone's conscience, and I think that the community wants answers and these people held accountable."
Police confirmed there could be more charges against the therapist. Once the therapist is arrested and arraigned, they could face charges of injury to a child, a second-degree felony.