Glendale : Aide Faces Abuse Charges

The district attorney’s office filed two felony child abuse charges Monday against a school aide who was arrested after a boy he was restraining aboard a bus stopped breathing and required hospitalization.

Later, Alex Samson, 22, of Los Angeles, pleaded not guilty to charges he improperly punished a student from Tobinworld, a Glendale school for autistic or emotionally disturbed children.

Glendale Municipal Court Commissioner Dona Bracke ordered Samson, who is in County Jail in lieu of $45,000 bail, to appear at a preliminary hearing Tuesday. He faces up to nine years in prison if convicted.

According to police, Derek Collins, 9, of Los Angeles, repeatedly misbehaved aboard a school bus on Oct. 24, prompting Samson to hold him face down on a bus seat and press his knee onto the boy’s back to restrain him. When he noticed the boy had stopped breathing, Samson asked another aide to administer cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

The boy was released from Huntington Memorial Hospital early this week. Outpatient tests were scheduled to determine whether he suffered brain damage, police said.

Detective Sue Hodgeman said authorities would look into whether the school had properly instructed Samson and other employees on disciplinary action and administration of emergency care.

“As far as I know at this time, the training does seem to have been somewhat inadequate, at least on his part, in how to handle uncooperative children,” she said.

Tobinworld’s executive director, Judith Weber, declined to comment on the incident.