A teacher and school nurse have been caught in camera dragging a disabled pupil across a school hall and up some stairs, leaving his body covered in bruises.
Thatcher Grayson, who has non-verbal autism and is unable to speak, couldn’t tell his mum Jo what happened at school so she demanded to see the CCTV footage.
Mrs Grayson had earlier received a text from her son’s teacher at Tates Creek Middle School in Lexington, Kentucky, US.
The text read: "The nurse and I had to physically help him get up off the gym floor.
"He wouldn’t move and other kids were trying to play. I apologise if he has marks on him."
Not realising the seriousness of the situation, his mum thanked the teacher for letting her know.
But when her son got undressed in the evening, she was shocked by the marks on his body and went to school the next morning demanding answers.
Mrs Grayson told CNN: "We were getting ready for bed, and when I pulled his shirt off, I saw cuts and bruises on his body. That didn’t look like marks of someone helping him get up."
In the surveillance tape a school nurse and teacher can be seen dragging the boy, who is closely followed by his service dog.
The mum told ABC news: "I don’t understand how anybody could do that to any child, regardless of whether or not they have a disability.
“I was initially told that he was having a meltdown, but the truth is, he wasn’t having a meltdown."
In the footage, Thacther is pulled along a hallway and up some stairs, before being dragged into another communal space.
Mrs Grayson has filed a report with the district attorney, but to date no arrests have been made.
However, according to CNN, the teacher no longer works at the school and the nurse has been placed in leave, pending investigation.
In a statement, Lisa Deffendall, a spokeswoman for the school district, said: "There is absolutely no tolerance for the conduct of the employee in this incident, and while we cannot discuss specifics, we do want to reassure our families that we take any situations of this nature very seriously.
"Our training is very explicit that physical restraint is a last resort only to be used when a student is a danger to themselves or others.
"The training also shows employees the proper ways to hold or transport students. In this case, neither of those standards were met."
Thatcher returned once Mrs Grayson was assured the teacher was no longer employed there.
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