A teacher at a Washington, D.C., school has been placed on administrative leave after allegedly taping a 9-year-old visually impaired student to a chair.
The alleged incident happened Wednesday afternoon during an after school tutoring program at the Friendship Blow Pierce Junior Academy Campus.
Christian Washington, a fourth-grade student, said the teacher wrapped the tape several times around his chest and his legs after he got out of his chair twice.
"She was laughing," he said. "Everybody in the class was laughing at me."
The 9-year-old said he was taped to the chair for about 10 minutes.
The boy told his mother, Terik Washington, about the alleged incident later that night. She confronted the teacher at school Thursday morning and said she was surprised by the teacher's admission and explanation.
"She said, 'Yes, but I don't want you think that this is anything malicious. I don't want you to think that this was done out of spite or anything like that. He was in on it and it was a game,' and I said, 'That's not a game,'" Terik Washington said.
She said that her son is visually impaired, and she placed him at the school because he had been taunted by other students at his previous school.
"Emotionally, I'm drained, I'm tired. I'm tired of my son being hurt," she said. "The teacher did this in front of students, so if it's OK for the teacher to do it, is it OK for the students to go behind her and do the same thing? No, it's not."
School officials say they are looking into the matter and have placed the teacher on administrative leave.
Terik Washington has filed a complaint with D.C. Police and the department is investigating.
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