HENDERSONVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- A Tennessee teacher is accused of scratching a nonverbal autistic child and insulting the appearance of the crying 5-year-old, saying it would make her cry too.
News outlets report 45-year-old April Chandler was arrested Monday on a child abuse charge, released on bond and suspended without pay.
An arrest affidavit says an aide at George A. Whitten Elementary told Hendersonville police that Chandler angrily grabbed a child on Friday, leaving him with red marks and scratches.
Another aide told police Chandler also had been seen roughly changing the clothes of the boy. The aide said he started to cry, and Chandler then insulted the child's appearance. That aide complained to the district, which confirmed that Chandler was written up for making inappropriate comments to a student in October.