Teacher said she was joking by putting autistic boy in trash

A Georgia special needs teacher accused of putting an autistic child head-first into a trash can said in a tribunal she was joking when she did it.

Police said in May Mary Katherine Pursley told the second-grade boy he had “trashy behavior” like Oscar the Grouch from Sesame Street at Mount Bethel Elementary School in Marietta.

“I had a strong hold of him,” she said. “He wasn’t flailing around or anything. I had strong hold of him. He was crying. He was screaming already, very loudly.”

She said she and the student had a “loving, joking” relationship, but a district investigator said the student didn’t see it that way, WXIA reported.

The school system took steps to fire Pursley on Monday while she faces a child cruelty charge.

Contact Kristen DeSilva at 702-477-3895 or kdesilva@reviewjournal.com. Find her on Twitter: @kristendesilva