A Florida Christian school teacher was allegedly caught on camera “forcefully” slamming a special needs student to the floor and repeatedly abusing the child in her classroom, according to authorities and reports.
Nikol Marie Rodriguez, 29, of Miramar, was arrested on Thursday in connection with multiple alleged abuse incidents caught on surveillance footage at Peace Christian Academy in Hialeah on March 4, according to Local 10.
The 8-year-old victim of the alleged abuse is diagnosed with autism and ADHD and is not known to be violent. Rodriguez has been his educator since August 2024, according to an arrest report obtained by the outlet.
Video captured an interaction between Rodriguez and the boy just before 11 a.m., where the teacher “appears to physically assist the victim by grabbing hold of the victim’s left arm” and then grabbed “the victim’s right arm and bicep area, spinning the victim in an aggressive manner,” the report said, according to the outlet.
Later that day, Rodriguez was allegedly caught suddenly restraining the boy while he was sitting calmly on the floor and pulling his arms behind his back, court documents added.
The young boy “was observed struggling with the restraint technique, appearing to be in agony,” as another student in the classroom covered his eyes and ears in distress, the local station reported.
Rodriguez was then seen “forcefully slamming the victim’s upper body and head onto the classroom floor” and continued restraining him by pinning down his arms and pressing on his upper body, the arrest report alleged.
The terrified boy attempted to escape while Rodriguez allegedly continued pinning his head into the corner of a classroom, mounting his torso, and pushing the child into a table as he tried to stand after the scuffle, police said.
The teacher allegedly did not seek medical care for the boy after the incident, and his mother later discovered he suffered injuries, including “a small puncture wound” on his bicep, bruising, and scratches to his chest and arm, the outlet said.
An internal school report described the incident as “supportive de-escalation” intended to prevent harm, and that Rodriguez had placed her hands on the child’s sides to provide physical support — but investigators said surveillance footage refuted those claims, the outlet reported.
The child is “able to comprehend simple instructions, but has difficulty articulating more than a simple request,” the arrest report added.
Rodriguez was booked on one count of child abuse without great bodily harm at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center and was later released on a $5,000 bond.
“It is a child that was acting out, and she was in the process of restraining [the child],” her attorney, Christopher Pracitto, said in court per the outlet.
The Peace Christian Academy did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
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