Mom demands answers after son with autism returns from school with missing teeth, bloody shirt
The mother of a Brooklyn student with autism has been trying to find out why her son came home from school last month with two teeth missing.
The NYPD is also investigating.
"What is happening here?"
It has been two weeks since Raqibah Smiley says her 5-year-old son came home from school missing his two front bottom teeth and had blood stains on his shirt.
"I'm like, oh my god, there's missing teeth, there's blood stains. You know, what is happening here?" Smiley said.
The mother said to her knowledge, her son's teeth had not been loose.
"I feel like if it was, I think that's something I probably would have noticed," she said.
Her son has autism and is nonverbal, so Smiley said she immediately drove to P.S. K721 in Gravesend to get answers.
"Nothing was reported"
According to a report CBS News New York reviewed, a school official spoke with the paraprofessional assigned to Smiley's child and classroom, and that person first said the boy showed up to school off the bus that way.
Smiley said she reviewed video with the school that shows her dropping him off in the morning that day with no blood stains on his shirt.
The paraprofessional then apologized and said it was a long day, and told the school official they noticed blood coming from the child's mouth and gave him water but did not report it to the nurse or administration.
"Did he fall? Did he run into the wall? We know he's autistic, he's nonverbal. He's 5, typical boy, OK? He's a daredevil. It happens," Smiley said. "But what happened? I still don't have no answers, and that's my thing."
Smiley contacted the NYPD and has kept her son out of the school since.
"This is a school for people like my son, children like my son. Nothing was reported," she said. "I'm waiting for justice. I'm waiting for answers. I don't trust anybody right now."
The New York City Department of Education said the school district's Special Commissioner of Investigation is reviewing the allegation and intends to investigate this matter.
