An employee at an Arizona autism treatment center was arrested and fired after surveillance footage showed him kicking a 5-year-old boy in the face who could not speak.
Peoria, Arizona — Surveillance Video shows Arizona therapist kicking 5-year-old nonverbal autistic child It led to the employee’s arrest and firing, leaving the boy’s family furious and looking for answers.
The incident happened Monday afternoon in a classroom at Sol Autism Center in Peoria. Surveillance video shows therapist Adolfo Salas kicking the child in the face during an interaction, causing bruising and swelling, according to the child’s family and police.
The child’s grandmother, Who spoke to KPNX A person who spoke on condition of anonymity said the family was devastated to learn what had happened.
“He was a lovely boy and I felt his pain when he got kicked in the face,” she said.
The surveillance video begins with Salas instructing the child to pick up trash from the classroom floor. Moments later, Salas lifted a trash can and kicked the boy in the face with his right foot.
The child’s grandmother said the child appeared upset after being kicked and responded by throwing his backpack back to the therapist and kicking a chair.
“He took a step back and the backpack hit him in the face, it was a heavy backpack,” she said. “He picked up the backpack and threw it back to the technician because he was upset. Then he kicked a chair at him.”
The video shows that about a minute later, another staff member entered the room. Surveillance video allegedly captured Salas admitting he kicked the child before leaving the room.
The family said they were notified of the incident the next day. The grandmother said administrators at Saul’s Autism Center met with relatives to inform them that Salas had been fired and outlined plans to tighten supervision and safety procedures.
“Saul’s Autism Center takes the safety and well-being of every child in our care very seriously. We took immediate action: the family was notified, the matter was reported to the appropriate authorities, we are cooperating with the appropriate review process, we conducted an internal investigation, and the employee involved was immediately removed from customer services and is no longer employed by Saul,” Ian Goldstein of Saul’s Autism Center said in a statement.
Peoria police arrested Salas at his home Thursday morning. He was booked on child abuse and battery charges. Salas is expected to make his first appearance before a judge Thursday night, where a bail amount will be set.
The child’s family said they were relieved Salas was fired and arrested, but they hoped he would never be allowed to work with children again.
“I don’t even have words for a person to hit a child like that,” the boy’s grandmother said. “You should be ashamed of yourself, especially a child who has a disability and doesn’t understand what you’re doing to them.”
The family is currently considering whether to continue sending their child to the Sol Autism Center, a facility they say was beneficial to his development before the incident.
