Polk City, Fla.-(Newsradio 970 WFLA)-Polk County deputies have arrested 65 year-old Brenda Nelson of Polk City for child abuse. Nelson is a Polk school bus attendant.
Investigators say a citizen complaint about a bus attendant smacking a special needs student led them to Nelson. Deputies say video from the bus shows Nelson walking by the victim and hitting her on the top of her head with an open hand. The woman was heard to have told the student "I'm gonna slap that tongue out of your mouth when I get up there."
Deputies say the girl was strapped in a wheelchair when the incident happened. They say Nelson also grabbed the girl by her hair and shook her head. Detectives say that Nelson then slapped the girl on the hand several times.
Nelson told deputies that the girl was acting in a disruptive manner, but they could find no evidence of that claim.
Photo courtesy Polk County Sheriff's Office