Teacher, aides force disabled student to walk for hours with hands taped, Texas cops say
With hands bound together with packing tape, a high school student with Down syndrome was forced to walk around a classroom for hours as a special education teacher cursed at him, Texas police said.
The teacher, along with two paraprofessionals in the Tyler High School classroom, are now behind bars and charged with injury to a child, elderly individual or disabled individual, according to an arrest affidavit.
Krystina Renea Haas, a special education teacher, and paraprofessionals Prisicilla Gutierrez and June Tryon were arrested March 28, according to police and jail records. The paraprofessionals are held on a $150,000 bond while Haas is held on a $300,000 bond.
Their attorney information was not listed. Tyler Independent School District did not immediately respond to McClatchy News’ request for comment April 2.
According to the arrest affidavit, police pulled surveillance footage from the classroom and observed the approximately four hours and 15 minutes the student was in the classroom.
It was 11:30 a.m. March 12 when the student was brought into the high school’s life skills classroom, police said. Immediately, he was made to start walking in circles around his desk, the affidavit said.
As he passed Haas’ desk, the two would exchange words, police said.
During one of their exchanges, approximately two hours into walking, Haas abruptly got up from her desk and yelled in the student’s face, using swear words, the affidavit said. Then, she turned to Tryon and said, “get the tape,” police said.
Tryon used packing tape to bind the student’s hands together so his fingers could not move, according to court documents. Gutierrez then came over and cut the tape with a pair of scissors so Tryon could finish securing the student’s hands, police said.
The student continued to walk around the room and was never permitted to sit or take a break, according to the affidavit. After approximately 2 1/2 hours, the student was then forced to stand in the corner, with hands still taped, and place his hands on the wall, the affidavit said.
He stood in the corner for approximately one hour and 45 minutes until it was time for him to catch the bus, police said. That’s when the tape was removed, the affidavit said.
When the student got off the bus and found his grandmother, he was crying and told her what happened, according to police. She reported it to the school the next day.
Haas was interviewed March 27 and defended the student’s punishment. She said she did it because he did not want to do his work and repeatedly flipped off or pointed finger guns at staff, the affidavit said.
“It’s not going to hurt them to stand for four hours or walk,” Haas told police. “It’s not going to hurt them.”
She said it is common practice to make students walk around the room for 10 to 15 minutes if they were being disrespectful, police said.
Haas also said that this was the only student whose hands were taped, and it had happened once before, according to the affidavit.
“They’re not precious babies, they’re fourteen- or fifteen-year-old teenage kids,” she said during an interview with police, according to the affidavit.
The teacher also said she had asked the school for support with this student, but said she hadn’t received any, according to police.
Tyler is about a 100-mile drive southeast from Dallas.
This story was originally published April 2, 2025 at 11:17 AM with the headline "Teacher, aides force disabled student to walk for hours with hands taped, Texas cops say."
