Nebraska Teacher Accused of Abusing Autistic Student

(Omaha, Nebraska) A 53-year-old teacher at Thomas Jefferson High School, Donna Thomas, has been arrested for allegedly abusing an autistic student between August and November 2009.

Thomas faces two counts child endangerment, two counts child endangerment with injury, two counts serious assault and one count neglect or abandonment of a dependent person.

According to court documents, Thomas dragged the child by his leg to calm down area. Also, on at least four occasions, Thomas had held him in a “neck hold, arm twisted behind his back, her elbow on his neck, or being choked.”

According to the court documents, Thomas never denied using a head lock in her December interview with investigators. Witness statements said that Thomas taped the young man to prove how disruptive he was in class and that she had other students write sentences to show other parents what a disruption he was in class. Thomas admitted to taping the young man and that the other children wrote the sentences but that they were not about “how they did not like [him].”

Thomas was booked and released on her own recognizance. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for March 31.