A New York City special education teacher has been arrested on suspicion of strangling a 5-year-old elementary school student.
Anthony Wicks, 46, was charged with second-degree assault and injury to a child. WCBS-TV reported.He added that prosecutors said Wicks grabbed the student around the neck with both hands and put him in a headlock.
“It was a very frightening moment for him. … He said the teacher's hands were tightly wrapped around his neck and he asked the teacher to let go because he would be a good boy.”
Further information from the station:
Wicks and her husband quietly walked out of Manhattan Criminal Court on Tuesday night and were placed on probation after their arraignment. The judge ordered Wicks to have no contact with her children. When asked if she understood, Wicks told the judge, “Yes, of course.”
This is Wicks' first arrest. She is a full-time special education teacher who, her lawyer said, worked for the city's Department of Education for five years, including three years in kindergarten.
Police told WCBS the incident happened Monday inside a classroom at PS 153 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Elementary School in Hamilton Heights. The child's brother told the station the 5-year-old refused to go into the “time-out corner” as instructed by the principal. Wicks is an assistant teacher, his parents told WCBS.
“My son was making a fuss about getting a timeout and then the teacher choked him,” his brother told the station. “It wasn't the teacher that was talking to my son. Other people told me that when she choked him he started crying and wasn't calm afterwards.”
The boy's father told WCBS he received a call from the principal around noon Monday saying the boy was OK but that his parents needed to come to school.
“It was a very frightening moment for him,” the boy's father told police. “He said the teacher's hands were tightly around his neck and he begged her to be good and let go.”
A Department of Education spokesperson told WCBS, “This behavior is completely unacceptable and the employee has been removed from the site immediately. We will continue to pursue termination pending the outcome of the arrest and, if convicted, we will continue to pursue termination. Nothing is more important than the safety and well-being of our students.”
The department said it tried to reach Wicks by phone, who is awaiting arraignment, but did not hear back.
One parent of a student in the 5-year-old class told WCBS they came to the school on Tuesday because they were upset the school hadn't told them anything about the incident.
“I had to find out through social media,” she told the station. “The teacher is my 5-year-old's teacher and I'm really disappointed that the school never disclosed anything. … I went to speak to the school and they gave me no information. I would like to have him removed today.”
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