DALLAS, Texas — A former teacher's aide for the Dallas Independent School District was arrested and booked into jail Thursday afternoon. Police allege she slammed a special-education elementary student to the ground in late September.
Deborah Thompson, 54, was charged with one count of injury to a child with the intent of bodily injury.
She was an aide at Larry G. Smith Elementary School at the time of the incident.
According to sources within Dallas ISD, classroom security footage shows Thompson picking up and slamming a 7-year-old boy with autism to the ground on Sept. 23.
Days later, an internal investigation was launched, and per the district, Thompson resigned on Sept. 26.
The boy's foster parents told WFAA that they were shown security footage of the incident on Monday after it was finally pulled to be reviewed weeks later.
At that time, the parents decided to press charges.
They spoke with WFAA on camera but didn't want to use their last names or show the face of their foster child that they're hoping to adopt.
They also said the young boy suffers from a learning delay.
"She literally just picked up my son and slammed him onto the floor," foster mother Brianna said. "You can hear him crying in the footage."
Per the parents, their young son was seen swinging his backpack around in the footage non-threateningly, and then Thompson stepped in to put a stop to it all.
"She stands up and tells him to stop," foster father Albert said. "He goes to swing it again, but before he gets the chance, she picks him up and slams him to the ground. His face goes right into the ground because she's holding his hands behind his back."
Per the parents, the actual teacher of the class noticed something had happened and got her phone to make a call to the principal.
Days later, the parents were notified of the internal investigation and said it made sense, but at the time, they said they were just told a "restraint" was being reviewed.
"He came home and kept saying that his head hurt," Brianna said. "Kids like my son, most are nonverbal and can't come home and tell us something happened to them."
The gravity of the situation went up a notch after the parents were shown the security footage on Monday. They told WFAA they immediately asked Dallas ISD Police to review the case.
"An officer watched the video and told me there was enough evidence for me to press charges, and right then and there, I said yes, I want to," Brianna said.
On Wednesday, a warrant was issued for Thompson's arrest, and she was picked up Thursday.
Both parents are frustrated it took this long to reach a conclusion and that they had little guidance from the district on how to move forward.
Their son is expected to be okay and only suffered a bruise on the face, but they have a warning for others in their situation.
"We have to be the voice for these children. They're the most vulnerable. I'm always going to be the voice for my son, and I'm going to stand up for him," Brianna said.
"After we saw the footage, I wondered what else had been done, not just to our son, but to others in the class? It was aggressive right off the bat," Albert said.
WFAA reached out to Dallas ISD about the arrest, but besides explaining when Thompson's last day was, they didn't offer a statement.