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Kiarra Jones allegedly hit a student with severe autism while working as a bus aide for a Colorado school district. The incident was caught on video. (Mug shot: Arapahoe County Jail; Screenshot: KUSA/YouTube)
A school bus aide in Colorado is facing an assault charge after she allegedly struck at least three nonverbal students who have autism.
The Englewood Police Department arrested 28-year-old Kiarra Jones for crimes against at-risk adult/juvenile, third-degree assault. The agency says the investigation began on March 28 when the Littleton Police Department alerted them about possible child abuse against a student on a Littleton Public Schools bus. Investigators reviewed video from the bus that showed Jones, a paraprofessional assigned to a student on the bus, hit the boy several times, according to police.
Police obtained an arrest warrant on April 4 for Jones and took her to the Arapahoe County Jail where she has since posted a $5,000 bond.
The parents of the three children have since hired a lawyer and held a press conference Tuesday morning. The parents said their children suffered a knocked-out tooth, fractured bones and deep bruises. Jones, an employee with Littleton schools, accompanied the kids on the bus each day as it took them to The Joshua School, which caters to students with autism.
Devin and Jess, who declined to give their last name at the press conference, said they first noticed bumps and bruises on their 10-year-old son back in September 2023, according to local CBS affiliate KCNC. The boy’s injuries worsened over time, they said.
Both were extremely emotional as they described the ordeal.
“They took my trust and spit on it,” Devin said.
Jess reportedly said she took her concerns to The Joshua School, which told her the injuries did not happen while he was in their care. Littleton Public Schools allegedly told her there was nothing to be concerned about after she questioned them.
“I notified LPS on March 18 and on March 19 got a phone call from Littleton police informing me that an LPS employee had severely abused my child,” she said. “I went to the LPS transportation building and was in utter shock.”
The parents chose to publicly release a surveillance video from the bus on the afternoon of March 18 that shows Jones elbowing and slapping the boy in the neck and face and stomping on his feet, seemingly unprovoked.
“How could someone that I trusted, someone that I was so friendly with do this to my little boy?” Jess said, fighting back tears. “The torture and torment of my sweet boy could’ve been stopped.”
Two other families reported similar injuries on their children, though Jones is not yet facing charges in those cases. Police said detectives are continuing to review an “extensive amount of media/video content” and other evidence.
The Joshua School said in a statement it first heard concerns from a mother about her child’s injuries in January.
“Self-injurious behavior and unexplained bruising isn’t uncommon in our students, but because of the concern of a mother trying to identify the source of her child’s injuries, we contacted the [Littleton] school district to request a review of transportation footage for anything out of the ordinary,” the school said in a statement. “At that time, we were assured by LPS that nothing out of the ordinary had occurred. We then continued to communicate and work with the mother to identify the source of her child’s injuries.”
Littleton schools did not return an email seeking comment but gave KCNC the letter it sent to parents of students on the bus. The district claims it did not learn of the injuries until March 19. It then began an internal investigation and alerted law enforcement. The district fired Jones, who had been employed there since August, the same day.
“This kind of behavior cannot be and is not tolerated. As parents, you trust us with the well-being of your children and you should never have to worry about them being harmed when they are in our care,” the letter said.
Ed C. Hopkins, of the Rathod Mohamedbhai law firm, is representing the three families and said they are planning to sue Littleton schools.
“They had everything they needed to stop it faster and they didn’t,” Hopkins said. “They had notice and they ignored it. These children have been traumatized and tortured because they failed them.”
