Krystina Rena Haas, 35, Prisicilla Gutierrez, 22, and June Renee Tryon, 57, have all been charged with injury to a disabled person.
TYLER, Texas — Arrest documents allege that three former Tyler High School employees taped the hands of a student with disabilities together and forced them to walk around the room for more than four hours.
Krystina Rena Haas, 35, Prisicilla Gutierrez, 22, and June Renee Tryon, 57, have all been charged with injury to a disabled person. They were booked into the Smith County Jail on Friday on a $150,000 bond each.
According to an arrest affidavit, the investigation began when administrators on March 13 learned a student with disabilities had their hands taped together by a teacher and their hands were red when they got off the bus in the afternoon.
When reviewing the video, the Tyler ISD Police Department saw the student was sent to the life skills room around 11:30 a.m. on March 12 and the student was immediately told to start walking in circles around the room. Haas was the teacher in the room and Tryon and Gutierrez were paraprofessionals for the classroom.
As the student was walking, Haas would sometimes exchange words with them and when the student would slow down, she would tell the student to keep going. At one point, Haas could be seen rushing across the room to then yell and cuss at the student. Haas told Tryon to “get the tape,” the affidavit read.
Tryon used packing tape to tape up both of the student’s hands so that their fingers could not move. Gutierrez cut the tape so that Tryon could finish wrapping it around the student’s hands. Tryon was seen making fun of the student “walking like a robot” after taping their hands, the document stated.
Later, Haas added more tape to the student’s left hand to make it tighter, and then she had the student continue walking. The student was placed in the corner until the end of school. Haas cut the tape so the student could catch the bus. Based on the video, police said the student was walking for 2.5 hours and they were in the corner for an hour and 44 minutes. Their hands were taped up for about two hours and 24 minutes, according to the affidavit.
The document says that a this time, Haas would curse and Tryon would demean the student. Gutierrez was at her desk crocheting.
In an interview, Tryon said the student was “rude, cussing and flipping off teachers.” She said Haas told her to tape the student’s hands. Tryon said it was common to have students walk when they were disrespectful. Gutierrez told police she had no part in the taping of the hands, and while she knew it was wrong, she said nothing.
Another student told an administrator that the student in question cussed at the teacher and raised his middle finger. The other student said Haas yells at kids when she’s mad, and when students misbehave, they have to walk around the room, the affidavit said.
In her interview with police, Haas said the student is “mean for no reason,” and the student has cursed at teachers and made a finger gun at staff before. Haas explained the student was doing their work “as usual” and that’s why they were walking. She said that every 10 to 15 minutes, the staff would ask if walking students would like to stop and do their work.
Haas claimed Tryon taped the student’s hands so the student couldn’t flip them off anymore. Haas said the purpose of taping the hands was not to be mean or to hurt the student, but it was to show them there are consequences for their actions. Haas said no other student had continuously flipped their middle finger at her, the affidavit explained.
When asked what caused her to yell in the student’s face, Haas said the student “likes to push buttons” and “talk about people’s moms, call you a pig,” the document read.
Haas said it would be OK for someone to tape her own children’s hands if they did what he did, saying her kids would not flip teachers off and call them names.
When asked about making a student walk or stand for over four hours, Haas said, “Sir, four hours? Seriously? It’s not going to hurt them to stand for four hours or to walk. They’re not precious babies, they’re 14 or 15-year-old teenage kids,” the affidavit said.
Haas claimed she had been asking for help for this student for months, and she told police that none of her training suggested making students walk or make them stand up for hours.
The affidavit says that Haas believes the students has the mental capacity of a 4-year-old, and she agreed with the police chief that she let the student get under her skin.
The student’s grandmother told police that her grandchild told her they made Haas mad and Haas taped their hands up. The student said the teacher was in their face, and the student told the teacher her breath stank. The grandmother explained after the incident, her grandchild didn’t want to go back to school, something they normally love and want to do.