Carina Chindamo & Taylor Internicola Bradenton teacher and aide accused of tying down non verbal 7 year old child, Jhalio Richardson with nylon rope to a chair for over an hour.
Define special needs educator? Florida police have arrested an elementary school teacher and are looking for a teacher’s aide after they were seen on video tying a 7 year old non-verbal student to a chair and holding the autistic boy there for an hour.
Bradenton police initially said they had obtained warrants for Exceptional Student Education teacher Carina Chindamo, 31, and aide Taylor Internicola, 39, after security cameras in the G.D. Rogers Garden-Bullock Elementary School playground showed the educators tying the wrists of the victim with a nylon rope before proceeding to then wrap it around the leg of a chair as the boy sat on the ground.
The boy’s mother who said the school had failed her son, identified the boy as special needs student, Jhalio Richardson.
Restrained for one hour sitting on the ground behind the chair
The Manatee County school educators were wanted for false imprisonment of a child under 13.
‘The child sat on the ground behind the chair, restrained, for approximately one hour,’ police said. ‘At various times in the video, Chindamo and Internicola were observed sitting on the chair, appearing to use their weight to keep the child from getting free.’
At 8:15 p.m., the Brandenton Police department posted that Chindamo was in custody.
Manatee County jail records say that Chindamo was also arrested on Monday on a battery charge and released Tuesday on a $500 bond. It’s not clear if that charge is related to the school incident, which took place on Friday.
Speaking to WFLA, the child’s mother, Takeila Jones, said the school’s principal called her saying an issue had occurred with her son.
‘You failed my child!’
‘Not just one of them, but actually two of them, were tying him up with the little rope that they use to walk the kids around the school with,’ Jones told the outlet.
‘My daughter saw it when they were at recess,’ Jones said. ‘She didn’t want to say anything to me because she thought ‘it’s his teacher, it’s Miss so-and-so, it’s fine, I didn’t think anything of it. He was over there crying and stuff like that and I didn’t want to get in trouble.”
Jones said she now doesn’t feel like she can trust the school or the teachers.
‘Y’all were supposed to protect him, y’all were supposed to watch out for him and teach him, not put him in harm’s way with these people that hurt him,’ she said.
‘I want justice for my child!’
Jones said she fears not only for her son, but the other students.
‘It’s really upsetting me because my child, like I said, is autistic, he’s non-verbal,’ Jones told WFLA. ‘He can’t tell mommy what’s happening, what’s not happening. All he can do, you know, is just be himself.’
The mother said she wants justice for her son.
‘Justice from the parties involved, justice from the school board, justice from the school itself, because you guys failed my child,’ the mom said.
Jones said after all of this, she is considering changing schools for all her children.
Police said the case was still under investigation, and they were working to determine if any other children had been so treated.
Anyone with information should contact Detective Dalia Santana at [email protected] or the Bradenton Police Department at 941-932-9300. Submit tips anonymously to Crime Stoppers at manateecrimestoppers.com or 866-634-8477 (TIPS).
