MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (WBOY) — A former substitute teacher at North Elementary School is facing two counts of felony assault and battery of a disabled child after two different incidents at the school.
Police say that in-classroom security video and witness statements were used during the investigations into both incidents.
The first incident, according to a criminal complaint against Diana Ellis, 59, happened on Nov. 16, 2022 when a 6-year-old student was being calmed down after an incident happened in the classroom.
Video and audio evidence, according to the complaint, showed Ellis “repeatedly placing her foot on the juvenile’s feet” and telling them to stop kicking, even as the child was heard saying “ow” and “it hurts”. Ellis is then later heard saying “Ok both of them then,” and the student is heard saying “ow” again, the complaint said.
The second incident involved a student who urinated on the floor of a special education classroom. According to a criminal complaint the incident happened on Jan. 23, 2023.
Ellis is accused of grabbing the student, who was six years old, by the upper arm, placing them against a wall and telling the student that they would be cleaning it up, before taking the student’s hand and putting it in the urine, and wiping the child’s hand on their face.
Security video, according to the complaint, captured Ellis saying “You like that?”
This comes after former assistant principal Carol Muniz was charged with battery in connection to a separate incident that happened on Jan. 26 and principal Natalie Webb was charged with failure to report in connection to that same Jan. 26 incident. Webb and Muniz’s charges are both misdemeanors.
Ellis turned herself in to the Mon County Magistrate Court on May 8 and is now out on a personal recognizance bond, according to the court. Her mugshot was not available in the West Virginia Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation website as of the time this article was published.