A former Ohio teacher was found guilty on multiple charges connected to an incident in which she filmed a special-needs student being duct-taped to a chair, then began laughing at him.
Rachel Smith, 27, and her former co-worker Allison Vestring were charged with unlawful restraint after Smith filmed Vestring wrapping duct tape around a 15-year-old child with Down syndrome and autism at West Clermont High School, prosecutors state.
Authorities launched an investigation after a CPS worker at the school immediately reported both educators to the police following the incident in March, Fox19 reported.
Two separate videos captured only parts of the incident, but investigators say the child, who has limited speaking and physical abilities, was held in the chair for two to five minutes.
In one video, Vestring is seen taping the boy to the chair and Smith is heard asking him to “stand up” once he can’t move, spurring laughter from classmates.
“OK, try and get up,” Smith says to the teen in the video. “Stand up.”
As other students laugh in the background, the teen says, “This isn’t funny,” which only triggers more laughter and ridicule.
“‘This isn’t funny,’” Smith says, mocking the teen. “Yes, it is. It’s funny,” she says while laughing.
Another video showed the victim calling for help from another staff member to which Smith responded, “He’s not coming to help you. You’re stuck here.”
After the teachers were reported, they told police they meant the incident to be playful and not harmful.
Vestring pleaded no contest to the unlawful restraint charge in April and was sentenced to five years of community service. She’s also barred from working with special-needs students.
Smith pleaded not guilty.
Her trial began last month and she took the stand to make a tearful plea to the court.
“I was honestly not thinking at the time and just thought that he would say something funny,” Smith said. “And he never said ‘stop.’ He never said ‘quit.’ He has said those words before in the past and that didn’t happen at that time.”
The parents of the student expressed disappointment with the teachers’ actions and said the teen was mentally and emotionally distressed after he saw the video of the incident.
“We were putting up birthday decorations and he saw the tape and said, ‘scared of tape’ so we had to take him and move him out of the room,” his father explained. “We sent him to school to make sure he’s not bullied and we wouldn’t have expected it from the teachers.”
Smith was found guilty of unlawful restraint and two counts of endangering children. She’ll be sentenced in October.
