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Colorado paraprofessional arrested after police say video shows her beating autistic child on school bus

Elizabeth Hernandez, The Denver Post on

Published in News & Features

Englewood police have surveillance footage of three dates this year that show Jones allegedly abusing the disabled boy, according to an arrest affidavit.

In court documents, police who watched the videos described Jones punching the child so hard that his head flung back to hit the seat. Investigators wrote that the boy began crying and pushing Jones away, but she continued her alleged assault. Police said it appears in the three videos that Jones also assaulted another child.

“I don’t want this to be something that’s hushed up,” Vestal said in the interview. “I’m sure a lot of people would be like, ‘Why would you put this video of your kid out there?’ If you don’t look at it, the words don’t encompass it. If he had to live through it, the least everybody else could do is pay attention to it so that it doesn’t happen again.”

“I was just in disbelief”

On March 18, Vestal noticed bruising on her son’s foot and thigh. When Vestal contacted his school, the autism-focused Joshua School, officials there said her son did not have bruising when they put his shoes and socks on for dismissal.

The boy’s mother texted Jones asking whether anything happened on the bus. Vestal said Jones told her nothing happened, but that sometimes the boy sits on his foot.

 

Vestal said she was skeptical.

The mother contacted the Littleton Public Schools transportation department — which is contracted to bus students to and from the private school — and shared photos of the bruising, asking for an explanation.

The next day, Vestal said she was contacted by the school district and law enforcement saying they had enough video footage to charge Jones with abuse.

“I was just in disbelief,” Vestal said.

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