A severely disabled autistic boy had just come into Kathleen Garrett's classroom, and Garrett was right behind him. Without warning, she laid him across the top of his desk, turned his head to the side and leaned down with all her weight, a witness told jurors Tuesday. The boy's eyes bulged and his lips turned purplish-blue, said teacher's aide Sabrina Mort, and with that, Mort decided she had seen enough. She pulled aside a co-worker, and they went to school authorities, accusing Garrett of child abuse.
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A judge on Tuesday rejected the claims of a former teacher accused of abusing autistic students in her classroom, leaving standing all five criminal counts against her. Kathleen Garrett, 49, is charged with abusing four children and "caging" a fifth -- placing the child in a school closet. Each of those incidents happened at South Seminole Middle School, where she worked from 2000 until November, when she resigned shortly after her arrest. She is accused of slamming one boy's head against his desk so hard that it broke two of his teeth; striking two children; and bending one child's finger backward.
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