BRADENTON, Fla. — A teacher and teacher's aide in Bradenton face charges for allegedly tying a non-verbal student to a chair for an hour.
According to Bradenton Police, detectives have obtained warrants for Carina Chindamo, 31, and Taylor Internicola, 39, for tying up the seven-year-old.
Takeila Jones got a call Sunday morning from a child protection services investigator, saying that they needed to talk to her son, Jhalil Richardson. Fifteen minutes later, she got another call, this time from Jhalil's principal.
Jones was told that there was an incident on Friday when her son was tied to a chair. She went to the school on Monday and learned that it was the school's guardian who saw what happened on the school's surveillance system and reported the abuse.
Detectives said security camera video of the school playground recorded last Friday showed Chindamo, an Exceptional Student Education (ESE) teacher, and Internicola, a teacher's aide, tying the boy's wrists with a nylon rope used to teach students to walk in line.
The rope was then wrapped around the leg of a chair and the child was left sitting on the ground behind the chair for approximately an hour, Bradenton PD said. Detectives said the video showed Chindamo and Internicola sitting in the chair, "appearing to use their weight to keep the child from getting free."
Chindamo was arrested Monday on a battery charge that has been upgraded to false imprisonment. Bradenton Police said Internicola hasn't been arrested yet.
Bradenton Police said the investigation remains active, and they are working to determine if there are other victims.
Manatee County Schools provided the following statement on the incident:
The highest priority of the School District of Manatee County is student safety. While we do not typically comment on matters which are currently being investigated by law enforcement or the State Attorney’s Office, the Bradenton Police Department has announced warrants for the arrest of an exceptional student education teacher and an aide for their conduct involving one of our students at Rogers Garden-Bullock Elementary.
The details of this incident, as described in the Bradenton Police Department Press Release, are disturbing and reprehensible. The District has been fully cooperating with law enforcement throughout this active investigation. All of our protocols have been followed, including the employees’ removal from the classroom immediately after the incident was reported and reassignment to other District locations where students are not present.
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