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Video shows Texas teacher throwing student against wall
A Round Rock mother and her 14-year-old son have banded together to share their story after video shows an administrator throw her son into a wall, and pinning him down.
ROUND ROCK, Texas - A mother has chosen to share disturbing video inside a Round Rock ISD school that she says proves an administrator threw her son into a wall and had him pinned down for at least four minutes.
The incident happened April 29, 2022, at RRISD’s GOALS Learning Center, a school for kids who qualify with an emotional disturbance.
Quintin Proctor, 14, attends that school and says he was removed from his classroom that day for being defiant towards his two female teachers. They then brought him into what is called the "cool down room" for him to compose himself.
"When I got there, I was pretty calm. I just had my leg on the wall and those teachers I was okay with, and then, after they had put me in there, Mr. Thomas had come in," said Quintin Proctor.
Quintin says Jacob Thomas, the assistant principal of his school, relieved the two teachers, and Quintin thought he was relieved as well. Quintin says when he went to follow the teachers back to the classroom, he was thrown back into the room by the administrator.
"When I hit the wall, I didn't really know what to think, like my mind just kind of went blank," he said.
Quintin’s mom, Tatiana Alfano, got a call and an email from a GOALS Learning Center staff member saying her son was defiant and fell down and hit his head. This was before she saw the video.
"I was going to follow through with that with the consequences here at home, but Quintin was pretty insistent, like, ‘no, you don't understand. He threw me into a wall, Mom,’" said Alfano.
Unsure what to believe, Alfano requested the video through the school and two weeks later she saw it all play out on her screen.
"And it validated everything he said," she said.
The video shows the administrator throw Quintin into the wall. Quintin then puts his hands up and the staff then pins him to the ground for at least four minutes.
Alfano says she immediately received a lawyer and reached out to the district for answers.
FOX 7 Austin received a statement on RRISD’S investigation. A spokesperson said: "The District's investigation is complete. The staff member is still employed but not assigned to GOALS Learning Center. He is currently working on administrative projects at the district's Central Office."
Alfano thought that was unacceptable, so she reached out to the Department of Family and Protective Services to review the case. The institution came back and said the case was "ruled out" claiming "it was reasonable to conclude that the alleged abuse and neglect did not occur."
"Common sense says, 'hey, this is abuse.' I don't know anybody who's seen that video and doesn't say, 'hey, this isn't child abuse,'" said Alfano.
Alfano and Quintin have now banded together to share this story and make a change saying they have heard from other families with similar experiences.
"What happened with Quintin isn't all that unique or special or rare. It's just that we happen to have footage of it because these things are generally happening behind closed doors, so now it's grown, it's bigger. We need to do right by all the children. This shouldn't be happening," said Alfano.
Alfano says the school district did reach out to her lawyer after she posted the video on social media with an offer of $10,000 to delete the video and sign a nondisclosure agreement which she declined. She says the goal is to make change: change the definition of "abuse" and get the school to make amends.
Quintin knows not everyone will be on his side because he was defiant at the start, but he says there is a bigger picture.
"Just look harder. I would say if this was your kid who just got thrown across a wall, would you throw him again? Would you? How is that their fault?" said Quintin.
The Texas Education Agency confirmed they are investigating the administrator in question. A TEA Spokesperson said "TEA can confirm that the educator in question currently has an investigatory flag on their certificate. Since the matter remains ongoing, we cannot comment further at this time."