Another Horry Schools special ed teacher arrested after police say he pinned student down
Another special education teacher at Horry County Schools has been arrested for allegedly harming a student.
Gabriel Hernandez, of St. James Intermediate, was arrested Friday morning by U.S. Marshals and charged with cruelty to children — a misdemeanor violation — according to online Horry County court records. He’s still in jail as of noon Friday, online booking records show.
Hernandez was placed on administrative leave with pay March 20 due to the alleged incident and will remain on leave until further notice, according to HCS spokeswoman Lisa Bourcier.
Nicole Perez said she received a call March 16 from the St. James Intermediate principal, who told her that Hernandez reportedly pinned her 10-year-old son down and sat on his legs. Hernandez had claimed he was trying to prevent the boy, who has autism, from banging his head against a wall, she was told, but she said she doesn’t believe that excuse, and there are safer ways to prevent that behavior.
Horry County Police were called to the school March 17 for a reported assault that occurred March 16, according to the incident report.
A witness told police that the subject put the victim in “an inappropriate hold” while the victim was having a “behavioral episode,” according to the incident report.
“... (T)hey witnessed (the subject) drag (the victim) across the room by his arms and then put all of his body weight on his legs by sitting on him and pinning him to the ground for approximately 30 seconds,” the report states.
The arrest warrant states that Hernandez “aggressively picked the victim up off the floor and then slammed him into the chair in a seated position, which caused unnecessary pain and suffering.”
Perez told The Sun News Friday that she’s relieved Hernandez was arrested because she was worried the incident was being ignored since it happened nearly a month ago.
Hernandez began working at HCS during the 2019-20 school year as a special education teacher at Waccamaw Elementary, according to district staff records The Sun News previously acquired from a Freedom of Information Act request. He’s certified in special education for multi-categorical and intellectual disabilities, according to S.C. Department of Education records.
Perez told a reporter this isn’t the first time the teacher has been removed from the classroom after being accused of hurting her son.
Last November, she was told Hernandez intentionally stepped on her son’s hand, but an investigation later deemed that accusation unfounded, Perez said.
Perez said her son has selective mutism, meaning he only speaks when he’s comfortable and is otherwise nonverbal. He hasn’t been able to talk to her about the alleged assault, and he’s refused to go back into the classroom where it happened, she said.
“He holds on tight to me whenever I try to bring him to school,” she said, explaining that she’s been slowly walking him through the school lobby since the incident before ultimately having to take him home.
Perez added that she’s now planning to leave South Carolina because she’s afraid for her son’s safety.
HCS special education issues
This is now the third time this school year that an Horry County Schools special education employee has faced charges related to alleged abuse of a student.
Ocean Bay Elementary teacher Grace McColgan was arrested in November and charged with six counts of unlawful conduct towards a child for alleged actions including smacking students, dumping a child out of a chair and rubbing hand sanitizer on an open wound.
Rebecca Schroyer, Ocean Bay Elementary’s principal, was arrested at the same time for allegedly failing to properly report McColgan’s actions.
Both are being prosecuted by the S.C. Attorney General’s Office and awaiting hearings before the state Grand Jury, according to previous Sun News reporting.
There have also been 12 lawsuits filed against the district since 2018 alleging damages suffered by a student receiving special education services, according to a review of online court records.
