A Florida teacher has been charged with child abuse after she allegedly grabbed an 8-year-old student with autism and slammed him to the classroom floor despite the boy showing no signs of aggression or threatening behavior at the time.
Nikol Marie Rodriguez, 29, was arrested on Thursday and charged with one count of child abuse without great bodily harm following an incident on March 3 at Peace Christian Academy in Hialeah. She has since posted a $5,000 bond.
Rodriguez had been working with the student since the beginning of the 2024 school year.
According to a probable cause arrest affidavit, the boy understands simple instructions but has difficulty expressing his needs verbally. The entire incident was captured on surveillance footage, which police obtained via subpoena.
Investigators say Rodriguez was in a classroom with the victim and two other students when the situation escalated, according to local 10.
The boy had been sitting on the floor facing the wrong direction, prompting Rodriguez to spin him around in what police described as an “aggressive manner.” He then moved to a bean bag and sat down calmly.
According to police, what happened next had no justification.
“While the CCTV did not provide audio, the victim was not in any way displaying physically threatening behavior,” investigators wrote. “The victim was simply sitting in place.” Rodriguez allegedly moved behind the boy and pulled his hands behind his back. As he struggled to free himself and appeared to be “in agony,” she was captured on camera “forcefully slamming the victim’s upper body and head onto the classroom floor.”
She then allegedly pressed him into a face-up position while he kicked his legs, before pinning his arm to the ground with her leg. When the boy attempted to get up, she allegedly shoved him into a table. The abuse only came to light when the boy’s mother noticed injuries during bath time that evening. He had a small puncture wound on his right bicep, bruise marks consistent with finger pressure on his left arm, and scratches across his chest.
The school’s internal report claimed Rodriguez had been applying “supportive de-escalation procedures” due to the boy’s “escalating behavior,” a characterization that police appeared to directly contradict in the footage. Rodriguez’s attorney defended her at the bond hearing, saying, “It is a child that was acting out, and she was in the process of restraining [the child].” Her next court date has not yet been scheduled.
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