Women arrested for taunting child with autism

WINTER HAVEN (FOX 13) - A judge told a woman accused of abusing an 8-year-old autistic boy that she cannot have any contact with children, even her own three. Kaderrica Smith is also banned from dealing with the kids she coaches in Little League and cheerleading.

Smith and her former co-worker at Our Children’s Academy of Winter Haven, Alexus Henderson, have both been fired.  They turned themselves in to police Thursday night.

A video that was posted on Snapchat shows Smith throwing a backpack at the child and taunting him. When he comes after her, she tosses him onto the ground.

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Henderson, who shot the video, has bonded out. She is accused of not stepping in to to stop Smith. Detectives say Henderson is the person who can be heard chuckling on the video.

“They have had the training for the de-escalation of an autistic child, and then they treat the child like that?” said Chief Charlie Bird of the Winter Haven Police Department. “There is no excuse.”

A spokesman for the school says there were no red flags when the women were hired. They had the proper certification to deal with hard to handle children, and they had no criminal records.

In addition to the restrictions, the judge set Smith’s bond at $5,000.