John Jefferson
Inset: Beatriz Rapisarda (Brevard County Sheriff). Background: Sunrise Elementary School (WFTV).
An elementary school teacher in Florida faces child abuse and false imprisonment charges after she was accused of dragging and straddling a student with disabilities and locking her in a bathroom.
Beatriz Rapisarda, 41, was arrested in connection with incidents that happened this week at Sunrise Elementary School in Palm Bay, officials said. Palm Bay is more than 70 miles southeast of Orlando.
Police responded to the school on Thursday on a call of allegations of physical abuse between a teacher and student, according to a probable cause affidavit.
Once there, witnesses told law enforcement that there was an incident in a classroom for the intellectually disabled between the teacher and a student, who was described as low-functioning and only slightly verbal, the document said.
The alleged abuse started after the teacher wanted the student to go from one area to another, but the student said no, the affidavit said.
The teacher then pushed the student “at least twice,” using two open palms to the student’s chest area, the document said.
When the student protested by throwing herself to the ground, the teacher allegedly grabbed the student by her wrist and “pulled her straight up” before the student threw herself to the ground again, the document said.
The teacher then got on top of the student and “straddled” her as the student lay on her back and pinned the student’s arms to the ground, the affidavit said witnesses told the officer.
When the student got up, the teacher stepped in front of the student, grabbed her under the arms, and dragged her toward the bathroom, the document said.
The witnesses told the officer Rapisarda uses the bathroom as a “form of punishment,” where she often puts the student and closes the door with only her foot lodged in it, so it’s not completely shut, the affidavit said.
In the alleged incident, as the teacher pulled the student across the classroom about 30 feet and as the student kicked and screamed, the student’s foot became stuck on a shelf. The teacher grabbed the student’s ankle and wrist and pulled her away from the shelf with her knee in the student’s back while pinning the student’s right arm down, the document said.
The teacher had “all her weight” on the student, one witness told the police, according to the affidavit.
When the student tried to crawl away, the teacher then dragged the student to the bathroom on her back by both wrists and held the bathroom door nearly completely shut as the student banged on the door for up to 10 minutes, the document said.
“The witnesses stated that this action was so shocking that one left the classroom and notified their supervisor,” the affidavit said.
The document noted a witness telling police about a previous incident with the teacher on Tuesday, in which she “wrapped” the student in a foam mat in a “swaddle” or “burrito style” and had the student stand in place while the teacher wrapped her arms around the mat enfolding the student for between five and seven minutes. The witnesses also said the teacher has a bathroom schedule for the special-needs kids and has denied them the use of the bathroom if they didn’t use it at their allotted time, the document said.
The four witnesses told the officer the teacher’s behavior was “unacceptable” and “aggressive” and called her “very controlling,” the document said. The parents told the officer they wanted to pursue the matter criminally, the affidavit said.
Brevard Public Schools released a statement, saying it was cooperating with the investigation and has placed Rapisarda on administrative leave.
Rapisarda is being held at the Brevard County Jail on $10,000 bond. She’s scheduled to be arraigned on Sept. 19, online court records show.
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