Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2017 | 6:20 p.m.
Kathryn Navrides
A 4-year-old student at Ruthe Deskin Elementary School was allegedly grabbed and shaken hard enough by his teacher that it left marks on his arms, according to a Clark County School District Police Department affidavit.
The April 25 incident, which was witnessed by a teacher’s assistant, led to the Friday arrest of Kathryn Navrides, a 31-year-old special education teacher, police said.
Navrides is facing one count of child abuse and has since been released on her own recognizance, court records show. She’s next scheduled in court Sept. 6.
According to the affidavit, the boy was “throwing a tantrum” and trying to walk to the "cool-down area” in the classroom when Navrides put him back on his chair.
While the crying-and-screaming boy was sitting, the teacher allegedly grabbed his wrists, held them, and shook his arms, police said.
The teacher’s aide, who earlier in the day performed a routine “safety check” on the boy and found no marks, told officials the boy suddenly had “bruises on both his arms from the wrist to the upper forearm,” police said. Officials also found that the boy had a bruise on his chest that was apparently not there before he showed up to school that day.
Navrides told the teacher’s aide that the boy was likely injured during the tantrum, when he’d flailed his arms, maybe hitting them on shelves, walls and chairs, police said.
Staff at the nurse’s office, where Navrides took the boy, said the marks were likely handprints, something a pediatrician later confirmed.
Clark County Child Protective Services was called to investigate that day, according to the affidavit. It wasn’t immediately clear when police were called.
When the boy’s mother and staff at the nurse’s office asked the boy who injured him, he said, “Ms. Katie did it.”
“He refused to go (to Navrides’ classroom) and had crying tantrums” the following day, police said.
The case was filed in court on July 14, a warrant was issued four days later, and Navrides was arrested on Friday, court records show.
