Florida teacher arrested after photo shows her putting autistic student in 'chokehold' – NBC 6 South Florida

A Florida special education teacher was arrested after a photo showed her putting a 3-year-old autistic student in a “chokehold,” authorities said.

Vilma Otero, 59, was arrested by the Volusia County Sheriff's Office on Aug. 24 on a charge of child abuse without serious bodily harm, records show.

The alleged incident occurred at Forest Lake Elementary School in Deltona, where Otero is a teacher.

According to a police report, another teacher from the same class said the incident occurred while Otero was reading to the children during story time.

The other teacher was preparing the next activity on the other side of the classroom when she heard a child start screaming and crying and turned around.

“She watched Otero sitting on a chair, [the child] between her legs and held in a chokehold,” the report said.[The child] was in distress and was trying to escape from the situation in which Otero had put him.”

The other teacher grabbed her phone and took several photos as the boy tried to free himself, the report said.

His “face turned red as he cried and screamed and tried to free himself from Otero's legs,” the report said.

The report did not say how long the boy was held or how he escaped from custody.

Officers met with the boy, but he was unable to provide many details due to his age and autism spectrum disorder, the report said.

“I was in trouble at school,” he told officers, according to the report, adding, “She hurt me.”

The officers noticed slight redness on the boy's neck, the report says.

Deputies also met with Otero, who said she has been a teacher for 36 years and has spent most of her time working with children with special needs, the report said.

Otero denied physically restraining the boy even after she was shown the photo, the report said.

Otero was taken to jail and later released. Attorney information was not available.

Volusia County Sheriff's Office