Surveillance video shows former Ga. high school staff member pushing student with special needs

COWETA COUNTY, Ga. — Surveillance video released by the Newnan Police Department showed a former paraprofessional at Newnan High School pushing a student with special needs several times.

According to Newnan police, an officer was helping another staff member fix the camera system’s blind spot last month when he noticed a disturbing encounter.

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In the video obtained by Channel 2 Action News, Karen Gresham, the former staff member at the school, appears to push a student three times as they walk down a hallway.

Officials said the child was a student with special special needs.

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Another student walked alongside Gresham, but the video did not show that student getting pushed.

It is unknown if Gresham pushed the other student at another time.

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Authorities said that when officers asked Gresham why she had pushed the student, she told police that she did so “to help her walk down the hall, and that was how she was trained at the beginning of the year.” She also told police she might have used too much force, but she had been “working on that.”

A school spokesperson told Channel 2 Action News that Gresham was no longer employed at Newnan High School.

Ga. high school parapro arrested for pushing special needs student multiple times, police say

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