Prisicilla Gutierrez

Three now-former Tyler High School employees are accused of abusing a special needs student, including by taping the student’s hands, according to arrest affidavits.

Krystina Rena Haas, 35, Prisicilla Gutierrez, 22, and June Renee Tryon, 57, have all been charged with injury to a disabled person. The women were booked Friday into the Smith County Jail, where they remain as of Monday evening.

Tyler ISD’s police department began an investigation on March 13 when administrators learned a teacher had taped the hands of a special needs student.

The district’s police reviewed camera footage which revealed audio and video evidence of the incident that had occurred in the life skills classroom at Tyler High School. Around 11:30 a.m. March 12, the student was told to start walking around the room in circles. Haas was the teacher in the room while Gutierrez and Tryon were working as paraprofessionals. All three are no longer employed with the district, according to Tyler ISD.

As the student was walking, Haas can be seen and heard in the footage sometimes speaking to the student, and when they slowed down, she told them to keep going. Haas is also seen rushing across the room to yell and cuss at the student, according to the arrest affidavit. Haas then told Tryon to “get the tape,” to which she immediately complied, the affidavit read.

Tryon used the packing tape to tape up the student’s hands so their fingers couldn’t move. The video shows Gutierrez getting up to get scissors and cutting the tape as Tryon finished wrapping the tape around the student’s fingers. Tyler police said that the footage shows Tryon making fun of the student “walking like a robot” after taping their hands, according to the affidavit.

Haas said in an interview with police that the tape was used because the student flipped their middle finger at staff multiple times. She told police the student has cussed at staff and been disrespectful.

When the student tried to remove the tape, Haas added more to the student’s left hand to make it tighter and had the student continue walking around the room. At one point, the student was made to stand in a corner but was never able to sit down for four straight hours, according to the affidavit. Haas told police this wasn’t unreasonable and, in her opinion, it wouldn’t hurt the student to not be able to sit for four hours.

The student’s hands were taped for almost two and half hours, according to the affidavit. It left red marks on the student’s hands. Haas told police this was the second time taped the student’s hands in the last year.

Haas has been having difficulty with this particular student and has been asking the district for help for almost a year but has not received any, she told police. Investigators asked her if her special education training taught her to restrict a student by taping their hands or punish them by making them walk. She said no but felt she had no other options to relay consequences to the student. Police told her that her training had provided her with ways to de-escalate situations such as this.

Haas told police if her children acted the way this student has, she would be OK with teachers punishing them in this way. Haas admitted to police she allowed this student to get under her skin.

Although she said she was aware of audio and visual recording in the classroom, Haas said she was not aware that what she did was against the law. When police told her an arrest warrant would be obtained, she asked why.

Tryon told police it was common practice for children to be forced to walk in Haas’ classroom when they don’t do their work or are disrespectful. Gutierrez, who can be seen in a video cutting the tape, said she knew it was wrong to tape the child’s hands but didn’t stop Haas or Tryon or say anything to administrators.

A guardian of the student told police that after the incident, the student didn’t want to go back to school, something they normally love and want to do.

“This situation is appalling, disappointing, and disheartening-especially because it concerns our most vulnerable population,” Superintendent Marty Crawford said in a statement to our news partners at CBS19. “As educators and caretakers, we hold ourselves to the highest standards, and any violation of that trust is completely unacceptable.”

The district added they are cooperating with law enforcement in their investigation.

Haas remains jailed on a $300,000 bond, while Tryon and Gutierrez remain in jail on bonds of $150,000 each.