A Kentucky mother is calling for action after her nonverbal autistic son was allegedly physically abused by an elementary school employee.
Tiphanee Lee, a mother based in the U.S., suspected that her son was experiencing physical abuse at school. To investigate, she hid a camera in his hair on May 13, and an incident was captured on video.
“As a mother, I knew in my heart something was not right,” Lee said at a press conference.
In a recording from the hidden camera shared on social media, while the screen remains dark, a child can be heard screaming while an adult says, “Get off of me now! Get off of me now!”
“I am his voice, and I will speak for him. We trusted his school to protect him, to care for him and to treat him with dignity,” Lee said. “Instead, he was harmed, silenced and failed by the very people who was supposed to keep him safe.”
During the press conference, Lee alleged that adults were in the room as bystanders and witnesses and did nothing to help her son.
School reports led to hidden camera
Lee says she first decided to hide a camera in her son’s hair, which is styled in locs, after she and his father received numerous complaints about his behaviour over the course of months.
The boy involved in the incident, Semaj, attended Field Elementary School, and his parents are fighting for an investigation.
The Brandon Gonez Show reached out to Field Elementary School for a statement, but no response has been received at the time of publication.
In response, Lee is calling for schools to install surveillance cameras in classrooms. Additionally, she wants the staff she says were involved in the alleged abuse to be terminated.
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The abuse of nonverbal children has also made headlines in Ontario recently, with The Brandon Gonez Show speaking to two parents who recently went through similar situations where their children were allegedly physically abused by an educator.
Just like Lee, Ontario parents Kiannah McCarthy and Granville Mayers are calling for the installation of cameras in classrooms.
