Terrifying footage shows a ten-year-old autistic boy being 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 on an at-risk person last week and is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on May 3.
In video provided by Rathod Mohamedbhai LLC Attorneys at Law, the firm representing three families, Jones can be seen repeatedly hitting the boy, who has severe autism and 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 that school bus abuse had persisted for months.
‘How dare you fail my son in such a shockingly avoidable way?’ Said Jessica Vestal, mother of Dax, who was seen being brutally beaten in the school bus video, as she wiped away tears.
Horrifying images show a ten-year-old autistic boy being beaten by his teaching assistant, who allegedly abused at least three children for months, leaving them with vicious bruises and marks.
Kiarra Jones, 29, was charged with third-degree assault on an at-risk person last week and is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on May 3.
Jones allegedly abused three children while they were riding a specialized school bus operated by Littleton Public Schools.
Jones allegedly abused three children while they were riding a specialized school bus operated by Littleton Public Schools.
They rode the bus every day between their homes and Joshua School, a magnet school that offers individualized instruction for autistic students.
According to Cyndy Lystad, executive director of Joshua School, Joshua School operates independently of Littleton Public Schools.
A school bus video from March 18 shows Jones elbowing Dax in the stomach first, then punching him in the face before slamming the 10-year-old’s head into the bus window.
The boy was hit so hard that his head fell back and hit the seat, investigators who viewed the video wrote in the documents.
In photographs released by the family’s lawyer, the autistic boy had severe bruising on his feet after the March 18 incident, but further evidence shows he suffered cuts to his lips and bruises to his neck two months earlier.
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 to and from Joshua School.
Heartbroken parents of children at Joshua School in Englewood spoke out Tuesday, alleging that school bus abuse had persisted 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 being brutally beaten in the school bus video, said as she wiped away tears.
Starting in September, the three families noticed unexplained injuries on their children, including scratches, bruises, a missing tooth, a broken toe, a black eye and other deep bruises on their bodies and feet, their attorney said. Pictured: Brittany Yarborough (right) and Jessica (left), whose children were on Jones’ bus.
Vestal said he was in shock and couldn’t even finish watching the video, he reported. the Denver Post.
“I immediately felt incredulous: How could someone I trusted, someone I was so friendly with, do this to my little boy?” Vestal said after playing the video at the conference.
The devastated mother said she bought Jones Christmas gifts, made him tea when he was feeling unwell and that the two texted each other from time to time.
Between last September and March of this year. Vestal has a record of 15 dates on which he found Dax suffering from injuries, and he was told that three of those dates coincide with footage of Jone’s alleged abuse, he said.
But Dax is just one of many children who returned 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 ability to be forced to watch someone hurt his friends,” said Kevin Yarbrough, father of an 11-year-old boy with severe, nonverbal autism on Jones’ bus.
“My son was abused by the people who were specifically designated to protect him,” she said, her voice shaking.
In one of the photographs provided by the family’s lawyer you can see the boy’s right ear bleeding after getting off the bus one day in October.
A month earlier, the boy, who had life-threatening autism, broke his toe and was taken to the hospital, the parents said.
“My husband and I have struggled to find words to adequately express how incredibly horrified and shocked we are,” said the third mother to accuse Jones of abuse.
Parents said autistic children could sometimes hurt themselves from time to time, and all attributed the mysterious and unexplained injuries to accidents.
‘He is a child who self-harms. Unfortunately, we usually assume he did it to himself,” Yarbrough said.
And she added: ‘I feel betrayed. We fight 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 they keep our children safe because that is 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 post this video of your son?’ If you don’t look at it, words don’t cover it,” Vestal said.
“If I had to experience it, the least everyone could do is pay attention to it so it doesn’t happen again.”
Three families noticed unexplained injuries on their children, including scratches, bruises, a missing tooth, a broken finger, a black eye and other deep bruises on their bodies and feet, their attorney said.
In photographs released by the family’s lawyer, the autistic boy had severe bruising on his feet after the March 18 incident, but further evidence shows he suffered cuts to his lips and bruises to his neck two months earlier.
Starting in September, the three families noticed unexplained injuries on their children, including scratches, bruises, a missing tooth, a broken toe, a black eye and other deep bruises on their bodies and feet, their attorney said in a statement. release.
They also observed significant changes in their children’s behavior and raised concerns with the school.
In an email sent to Joshua School in January, Vestal asked about bruises on her son’s arm, neck and thigh.
“We reviewed the video and nothing out of the ordinary happens during the ride home,” Michelle Molina, transportation operations supervisor for the Littleton district, wrote in an email.
According to the lawyer representing the families, the Joshua School raised its belief with Littleton Public Schools (LPS) that abuse was occurring on the bus.
“LPS analyzed a single bus trip and determined there was nothing to worry about and provided no further follow-up, allowing months of unabated abuse to continue,” the statement read.
After Jones was arrested this month, Littleton Public Schools issued a statement, saying Jones was hired in August after “satisfactory reference checks and after passing a thorough background check.”
‘He had very limited access to students during his employment at LPS. “She has had no contact with students since March 19, the day her employment was terminated,” the statement read.