Teacher arrested for breaking leg of 3 year old autistic

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Samantha Jo Forester, 35, is charged with aggravated child abuse in connection with the injury, and the child's family is suing Forester's employer, the Capstone Academy in Pensacola, over allegations of negligence.

The child's mother, Leah Owen, told the News Journal that she was happy to be off the waiting list and to have her daughter, Gabby, finally enrolled at the academy.

"Having a nonverbal child, you put a lot of trust in whoever takes care of her," Owen said.

On the morning of Jan. 13, Owen got off work from her night shift as a nurse and took her son and daughter to school as she always did. She went home and to sleep but was woken up a couple of hours later by a call from her daughter’s teacher letting Owen know her daughter was injured.

Owen rushed to the school.

"When I did see her, she was on the floor with three therapists around her with ice on her leg, and I immediately took her to the emergency room," Owen said.

At Ascension Sacred Heart Hospital, an X-ray revealed Gabby's right femur was fractured and required emergency surgery to repair. Gabby went home in a full body cast.

According to a report from Escambia County Sheriff's Office, Forester reported that Gabby's dress was wet, so she took her to the bathroom to change her clothes. As she changed her, the teacher reported Gabby was having a meltdown and tried to twist out of her arms.

The report said Forester heard a loud pop and said she wasn't sure if Gabby had hit her head.

The incident occurred in a bathroom without cameras present. Armstrong said it is easy for teachers at the school to know where the blind spots are in the classroom when it comes to what surveillance cameras can and cannot see.

Owen said her daughter's dress was ripped but not wet. She also said she noticed that her daughter's earring was ripped halfway out and that the child had what looked like fingernail scratches and other bruises on her body.

"Gabby is shell-shocked. She's having nightmares and can't articulate her pain level to her mother," Armstrong said.

Investigators determined after speaking with medical providers who treated Gabby that more force would be required to break the child's leg than what Forester described had happened.

Deputies charged Forester with aggravated child abuse. She was booked into Escambia County Jail on Thursday and released later that day on $10,000 bond.

Corrective surgery left Gabby's injured leg shorter than the other, something Armstrong said could result in long-term implications for Gabby as she continues to grow.

Autism or not, who on earth would someone hurt a 3 year old for not talking to you.

The Capstone academy is a mainstream school, Parents of autistic children must be prepared that many of the teachers/staff will have zero experience dealing with an actual meltdown.

My daughter regularly had meltdowns in her primary school and damaged property (furniture/computer equipment) and also physically assaulted staff. Fortunately the headmaster had a teacher's aide with her who was fully trained.