VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — A mother says her 6-year-old son with special needs came home from Pembroke Elementary School with a large injury, prompting police to investigate.
Maria Cannady sent photos to News 3 showing a large welt in the shape of a handprint on her son’s thigh. She says the injury is a little bigger than her own hand.
Cannady said her son returned home earlier this week with marks that were not present when he left for school that morning. Cannady said the incident happened Tuesday while her son was attending Pembroke Elementary School.
“I want answers,” Cannady said. “I want to know who did that to my child.”
The 6-year-old boy has autism and is non-verbal, his mother told News 3. Cannady says he attends a classroom for students with special needs and is under regular teacher supervision. She does not believe the injury was caused by another student.
Cannady described the day the injury was first noticed. She says a teacher took him to the restroom and noticed the large mark on his leg, but didn’t know how it happened. The teacher then contacted Cannady.
“She said she noticed a mark on his leg when she took him to the bathroom, and she wasn’t sure how it got there, but she was worried,” Cannady said.
Additionally, Cannady says the mark wasn’t on her son when he left for school that morning, and that the same teacher who reported the injury said she didn’t notice it when she accompanied him to the restroom earlier that day.
Cannady said she saw the mark as soon as her son arrived home and described it as resembling an adult handprint.
“I immediately knew somebody slapped him or grabbed him extremely hard,” she said. “The handprint is still there today. It’s faint, but it’s still there, so somebody used force.”
The boy has been attending Pembroke Elementary for two years and, according to Cannady, there have been no previous issues at the school.
She also mentioned that a new teacher was added to his classroom a couple of months ago, and said she has had no problems with her son's teachers assigned to his classroom.
“I hope this doesn’t keep happening to special needs kids because it’s sad,” she said. “A lot of them can’t communicate and talk to you, so you’re left not knowing what happened.”
Virginia Beach police confirmed to News 3 that they are investigating the incident.
Virginia Beach City Public Schools said they have no comment at this time.
