Police: Special needs child duct taped at school

INDIANAPOLIS (WTHI) - Parents of an 8-year-old special needs student called police Monday after someone duct taped their daughter’s shoes and ankles.

According to an Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department report, at about 4 p.m. Monday,
a bus driver for Westlake Elementary School asked parents to get on the bus as the driver was pulling to the front of them home.

The parents said they saw duct tape wrapped around their child’s shoes and ankles. The report said the father had to carry his daughter off the bus because he said she was unable to walk due to the tape being tight.

The report said parents went to the school to speak with a school official. The official told the parents their daughter kept taking her shoes off after being told it was time to get on the bus. At the end of the school day, a person or persons put the duct tape around the shoes and her ankles in order to keep the shoes on her feet, the report said.

The bus driver told the parents the girl was brought on the bus in a restraint chair.

The report said the mother told police her daughter has a history of taking her shoes off but in the past, the school would call her to talk her daughter into putting her shoes on and has had to pick her up from school in the past when she refused to put them on.

According to a statement from the MSD of Wayne Township, "We have had the opportunity to meet with the parents of the student involved in this reported incident and have begun our own investigation. We have notified the Indiana Department of Child Services of the incident, and if warranted, we will file a report with the agency. We have also involved our own law enforcement officers in the investigation. When the investigation into this incident is concluded, we will take appropriate action."