A former Texas teacher has pleaded guilty in connection to an incident where she was accused of injuring a special needs student two years ago.
Amber Hall, who used to work at Tipps Elementary School in Houston, was charged with injury to a child for dragging the 5-year-old down a hallway by his ankles, KPRC-TV reported. She entered her guilty plea last August.
The child’s mother, Nicole Graves, recently spoke to the news station to raise awareness about her son. The incident happened in September 2022 and was captured on surveillance video. Footage shared by the outlet shows the teacher holding the boy by the leg and lugging him down blue carpet and tiled floors.
The child was initially in the gym with other students when he became frustrated and left after he chose not to play in the ongoing activity. Court documents said Hall found the boy on the floor having a tantrum — specifically kicking and screaming — before she started dragging him, according to the report. She took him all the way to the Life Skills Classroom to another teacher.
The child was examined by the school nurse and later by staff at a local hospital. It was determined that he had carpet burns that were tender to touch, which Graves didn’t see until they got home after she picked him up from school, the outlet reported.
Days later, Hall explained to police that she was not adequately trained to handle the situation and was searching for a colleague to help her.
“To be honest, as angry as I am about what happened to my son, I feel sorry for her too because she was not trained,” Graves told the outlet. “She didn’t know how to handle students in my son’s shoes.”
Graves was terminated last year, according to KPRC-TV. During her tenure at Tipps Elementary, she was warned not to “intervene” in situations involving her son, who notably has had several tantrums and had to be restrained dozens of times after being dragged by Hall.
However, Graves found herself in an incident with her son, school staff, and the principal in May 2023. While the child was being restrained, she reportedly tried to get him, but the principal wouldn’t allow it.
She is accused of getting physical with the principal and making threats, saying, “We can fight,” according to the report. She denied the claims and said she didn’t touch any of her colleagues. Months later, she was let go following an investigation. She had to transfer her children to another school as well.
In a statement to KPRC-TV, the district said that Graves resigned from her position, but she showed a letter to the news station that said she was fired.
The case is reminiscent of an incident in Ohio that led day care employee Derrick Sorrells, a paraprofessional, to be charged with assault and two counts of endangering children.
Video footage shows him chasing, hitting, and holding a 3-year-old special needs student upside down by his ankles. It was met with outrage from the child’s parents and local prosecutors. Sorrells was placed on administrative leave but later resigned.
“No child should ever be subjected to such cruelty, and it is made worse by the fact the offender is a school employee,” Montgomery County Prosecutor Mat Heck Jr. said of the Ohio case. “This child, his parents, and our community should expect and deserve better from our school employees.”
