A city Department of Education employee has been charged with felony assault for punching out an 11-year-old autistic boy in the cafeteria of a Brooklyn school, the Daily News has learned.
Milton Parker, 58, a paraprofessional at Public School 225 in Brighton Beach, attacked the youngster last Thursday after he had spilled water on the floor, according to the boy’s father, Anatoly Veltman.
Parker ordered Anatoly, Jr., to clean up the spill, but the boy apparently did not understand what he meant — further enraging the supervisor. He grabbed the boy and punched him in the face, according to court papers.
“The police officer told me Mr. Parker said my son said ‘something racial’ to him,” Veltman told The News. “I spoke to my son and all he could say was he told (Parker) to ‘keep your hands to yourself.'”
After reviewing a video of the incident recorded on a school security camera, cops charged Parker with felony assault, endangering the welfare of a minor, menacing and harassment. He has been suspended without pay and could not be reached.
Anatoly Jr. has the cognitive and social skills of a 6-year-old and requires one-on-one supervision by a paraprofessional, his father said. Parker was not the boy’s assigned paraprofessional for the summer school class.
“These paraprofessionals are supposed to be properly trained to protect and teach children with disabilities, not assault them,” said lawyer Scott Rynecki of the law firm Rubenstein & Rynecki.
Veltman said his son was treated at Coney Island Hospital for a possible concussion and severe bruising on the side of his face. The youngster is extremely apprehensive about returning to school, the father said.
“Children in the care of these paraprofessionals should be protected 100 percent,” Veltman said. “I could never imagine in my worst dream that this could happen.”