School district releases video of teachers dragging student with autism
A school district in Lexington, Kentucky, has released surveillance footage of two teachers dragging an 11-year-old student with autism at Tates Creek Middle School. CBS affiliate WKYT obtained the video through an open records request.
The video shows the teachers dragging the student along with his service dog from the school's gym lobby to its main foyer. Fayette County Public Schools called the incident "isolated" and said the teachers involved are no longer employed with the district.
The student's mother, Jo Grayson, said her son returned home with bruises after the incident. She told WKYT she is angrier after seeing the footage for the first time. Grayson called the video "heartbreaking" and said her son is autistic, nonverbal and has seen him not want to get up before.
Grayson said her child also has hypermobility, meaning his joints are more at risk in situations like this. She said she only allowed her son to return to school after the teachers were fired from the district.
"He'll remember this for the rest of his life," she told the station. "How could somebody who works with a person with disabilities lose their cool like that and just be, you know, not thinking about how this is going to not only physically hurt a child but psychologically hurt them as well?"