A one time Michigan teacher’s aide has been charged with child abuse for an incident late last year in which she allegedly threw a 13-year-old special needs student into a window.
According to an incident report, the 13-year-old child, who is largely non-verbal and reportedly has mental faculties closer to that of a 5-year-old, was exhibiting improper behavior in the classroom at The Learning Center, which focuses on children with moderate to severe impairments, outside Escanaba, WBUP reported.
One of the other aides said that some kind of intervention would have been appropriate, but what the boy was doing did not warrant what happened.
The teacher was out of the classroom, and the boy began to stand up and sit down “a little bit,” which the aides said was a behavior he exhibited frequently. Then, they said, he “began making pinching motions” at the aide, 54-year-old Robin Popour.
“Robin then told him, if you pinch me I will slap your hand,” the aide said. “He then continued to pinch at her and actually pinched her hands a couple of times. Then Robin got inches from his face and screamed at him to stay seated.
“[The student] then stood up and made pinching motions towards Robin’s hands. Robin then grabbed [The student] by his shoulders and slammed him into the window. [He] froze briefly then grabbed onto Robin’s arms and was digging his nails into her arms.”
The teacher returned to the classroom and intervened. As they all left the classroom, one aide said, Popour said, “I don’t give a f*** if I left marks on him.” Another aide quoted her saying, “I don’t care if I got him. He deserved it.”
The other three aides filed reports the next day, and administrators contacted the Delta County Sheriff’s Office. Deputies began investigating and contacted teh student’s parents. Popour was fired.
According to the incident reports, Popour had made concerning statements about that student in the past.
“Robin has said many times throughout the year, she does not like him, has no use for him, and if he ever touches her she will lose her job and hit him back,” said one aide.
“Robin talks openly in the classroom about the things she would do, if [the child] hurt her… it felt to me that Robin was almost looking for something like this to happen,” another said.
Popour, a US citizen, has been charged with third degree child abuse.
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[Featured image: Robin Popour/Delta Schoolcraft Intermediate School District]