A Flawed System - The Court System is NOT Set Up to Protect our Youth with Disabilities
On April 5, 2024 our grandson Liam was brutalized by a paraprofessional at his elementary school in Springfield Massachusetts.
Our Liam has autism, a sensory disorder and Complex-PTSD due to trauma and abuse in his young life. My husband and I adopted him at the age of three and a half. This journey has been difficult at times as we have navigated through many “uncharted waters”. Learning about our grandson’s disabilities and how to help him overcome his challenges came in many forms. Educating ourselves on children like Liam was vital for his care and support.
During this time in his life prior to the attack, he was struggling with dis-regulation of emotions and expression. He was struggling with stress induced flash backs of his past, and he could not articulate his thoughts and feelings. Because of this, there were many “meltdowns”. When Liam was in “trauma mode” he was instantly thrust into a Fight of Flight mindset.
Unfortunately, there were times when behavior interventions had to be set in place and restraints did happen. To say this child struggled profusely is an understatement. Many people in the school system did not understand Liam’s struggles, and others viewed him as a “troubled child” - “A bully” - “Violent”. All of these misconceptions of him were totally untrue.
THE REALITY:
Liam is not mentally ill nor is he a violent child. He is a young man who has been through hell early on in his life and is trying to overcome his trauma. He is someone who has autism and at a young age could not process all that was going on in his mind. He is a child who was screaming for help. His mind and body were reacting to HIS TRAUMA as the words could not be articulated.
He should have been met with understanding and compassion, but on that day of the attack he was only met with judgement and brutality.
This para professional stepped into a situation that he did not belong in. He was not assigned to the class, and Liam’s 1:1 aide was by his side during this particular struggle in the gym. Liam and another student had a disagreement and he walked away crying. When he would become upset he cried very loud. His aide was trying to give him some space, as she knew how to handle him, but this other para decided to step into the situation meeting Liam with hands extending, grabbing him and throwing him to the ground, and then he proceeds to jump on top of him brutalizing him in a “botched restraint” that last far too long essentially harming Liam. This is all captured on video and it is horrendously disgusting.
The video clearly shows the altercation - it shows NO de-escalation skills applied, and more importantly is shows that this para did not have a clue on how to deal with a child with disabilities. He should have never approached Liam in the first place, and rule of thumb - Give the child space - DO NOT TOUCH THEM - Try speaking with them to bring down the level of discomfort - ONLY place hands on a child if they are harming someone or endangering themselves.
On that day - Liam was crying - only crying. There was NO NEED to place hands on him.
As his grandmother I will never forget the moment of walking into the gym and seeing my grandchild laying on the cold gym floor in a fetal position rocking and sobbing. The gym was empty with only three adults standing over him. Nobody was helping or comforting him. I ran to him asking the adults what happened and I was met with silence from everyone. I said to Liam, are you ok, and as I rolled him over; I was horrified at what I saw. My child’s face was beaten, bloodied and bruised. His eye was swollen shut and blood was coming out of the corner of his mouth. That image of Liam will haunt me for the rest of my life. As he was shaking, mumbling with his lip quivering I was appalled. Since nobody could tell me what happened, I made the decision to bring him home - a place of safety and comfort so I could encourage him to tell me what happened. I had to make a quick decision while in my own “distraught state of mind” with ZERO information of the altercation. All I could think of was to get him out of there.
When I placed him in the shower to try to comfort and calm him, there were visible bruises on his body. I was enraged and immediately placed a call to the principal. It took hours before any answers would come. I was told that the altercation was captured on video and it was really bad. The principal described to me what happened and we called the police to file a report. We also took Liam to his pediatrician to have him evaluated.
We have spent the last two years in and out of court as the perpetrator was charged with assault and battery and reckless assault. I have been to every court hearing sitting silently as the defense team viciously painted a picture of our grandson as a violent, out of control monster. They used every trick in the book to state that Liam was the aggressor, a bad child filled with hate and violence. They even spoke of mental institution restraints and police restraints like he was a criminal. The way this defense chiseled away at our grandchild was dis-heartening and shows the ignorance of our society and how we are supposed to handle children with disabilities. It has been an “EYE OPENING” experience to say the least, and further showed us that the VICTIM has little rights in a courtroom and children are the most vulnerable and not protected at all.
Yesterday, June 16, 2026 a jury found the defendant NOT GUILTY. This was a devastating blow to my husband and I, which left us with so many unanswered questions. HOW can a jury look at this video which clearly shows the attack, hear all of this testimony and allow this criminal to walk free? We cannot wrap our heads around this outcome. This was a clear and solid case of assault and battery on a child, but the jury was swayed by the defense team and looked at a self-defense action. The paraprofessional had to defend himself against a disabled child who was ONLY crying. They used Liam’s past struggles against him as reason to dismiss the case. THE JUDGEMENT: He was judged for his personal struggles. He was not a danger to himself or anyone else, but they felt brutality was warranted because of his past records.
THIS IS A HUGE INJUSTICE to Liam and all of the other children out there with the same types of disabilities. This is our society placing judgment instead of compassion. We are appauled by this verdict and severely disappointed in the judicial system. This has been a real eye opener to us, and something needs to be done. We cannot just leave it here.
Not only was there NO JUSTICE for Liam, but they also labeled him for life.
WE as a society need to be very careful on how we drop LABELS onto children with disables, because what I have heard here in this courtroom speaks again to the ignorance and STIGMA placed heavily of people who struggle.
MOVING FORWARD: There needs to be more training in our schools, police departments, and health care fields educating staff on how to care for and understand children like Liam. We have seen far too many cases of abuse and brutality of children and adults who struggle with Autism and Complex-PTSD.
How does one person fight the system? How do we change the narrative and make this world a safer place for our kids. We send our children off to school thinking they will be safe, but the reality is THEY ARE NOT, especially if the child has disabilies.
The scary part is that this paraprofessional plans to work with children in the future now that he has been cleared of all charges. This will not be on his record, and when a CORI check is done his future employers will NEVER KNOW HIS PAST. He will strike again, because he does not know how to care for children appropriately. It makes us so very angry, to think that he gets to walk away victorious. This defense team believes that they did a great service to him and our community, but the REALITY, they sent a monster back in the trenches to harm more children. We believe we will see this man in the news, as more children will be affected by his brutality.
As a parent it was crushing to hear “Not Guilty” and know that we have ZERO control of this outcome, and we must accept the fact that he will be back out there waiting to claim his next victim. So many emotions to unpack, and personal trauma that needs to heal.
My thoughts - It is time to take action and create “LIAM’S LAW”
This law will be about making our schools accountable for more complete training surrounding children with disabilities. There needs to be more “in-depth” programs that teachers and staff should be required to complete so that they can have a better understanding of why the behaviors are happening. This training would offer more education surrounding de-escalation skills, understanding of Autism, how a child becomes dysregulated and how Trauma and Abuse play a big role. Mental Health Awareness.
There is so much work to be done surrounding this topic, but I cannot leave it here - NOT GUILTY - nobody won yesterday. The defense may think that they did, but clearly that is not the case.
This is not the end - it is just the beginning of something new.
Please share this article with others. It is important for people to hear the truth and educated themselves about what is happening in our communities and with our children.
Lisa Zarcone
Author - Child & Mental Health Advocate - Public Speaker - Social Media Influencer
CASA Advocate - Court Appointed Special Advocate in the Judicial System for Youth
NAASCA Massachusetts Ambassador - National Association of Adult Survivors of Child Abuse
