A former paraprofessional at Cedar Ridge Elementary School in Columbia County, Ga., has been charged with battery of a 6-year-old boy at that school, according to authorities.
The Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office states that former parapro Karen Zanfardino, 48, of Cohutta, was charged Oct. 26.
Whitfield schools spokesman Eric Beavers said Friday that Zanfardino was placed on paid administrative leave on the day of her arrest and fired last Monday.
Sheriff’s reports state that the boy’s parents were present during the incident. The boy’s mother told authorities that Zanfardino grabbed her son by the arm and dragged him about five feet across the floor, “causing him to hit his head on the couch and his feet on the table.”
Witnesses at the school said the boy’s arm was “really red and you could see fingerprints or marks on his arm,” the report states.
Zanfardino told authorities that the boy saw his mother’s car as he and other children left the playground that day and said, “My mom is here to check me out,” the report states.
After getting the children some popsicles, “Zanfardino stated she saw [the boy] in the room with his parents and she went in there and grabbed [the boy] by the hand and told him, ‘Let’s go,'” the report states.
Zanfardino said the boy “kept throwing himself on the floor and she kept trying to make him stand up,” the report states. She told investigators the boy’s parents told her, “‘Don’t drag my child like that,’ and she let go.”
Zanfardino is free on a $1,000 bond.