VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. – A Florida teacher is facing child abuse charges after deputies said she placed a 3-year-old autistic student in a headlock.
Volusia County deputies said a paraeducator who works with Vilma Otero, 59, at a Deltona elementary school witnessed the boy being put in a chokehold by Otero during story time on Friday.
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According to deputies, the paraeducator took pictures of the incident with her cell phone, as the child was screaming, crying and attempting to free Otero’s legs.
According to an arrest report, the child told deputies “She hurt me” and “I got in trouble at school” after the incident. The Department of Children and Families was contacted, and a report was filed.
Otero told deputies she has been a teacher for 36 years and has worked with special needs children for the majority of that time.
Otero was arrested on a charge of felony child abuse and has since bonded out of jail.