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News > In the Headlines
He is a 12-year-old autistic boy who never learned to speak. The Hoffman Estates boy's chirps and moans help his parents understand his moods. And he has a special touch-screen computer with "happy," "sad," and "mad" faces. The Hoffman Estates boy's chirps and moans help his parents understand his moods. And he has a special touch-screen computer with "happy," "sad," and "mad" faces. So when the boy came home from Robert Frost Junior High School in August, he had no way to explain the horrible bruises on one of his shins. So when the boy came home from Robert Frost Junior High School in August, he had no way to explain the horrible bruises on one of his shins. But the boy's parents learned Friday that their son's trusted special education teacher, 30-year-old Patrick E. McCarthy of Palatine, has been charged with criminally abusing three autistic students at the Schaumburg school, including their son. "I'm in utter shock," the boy's mother said Friday. "I thought [McCarthy] was a decent guy." Cook County prosecutors say McCarthy forced the 12-year-old boy onto a trampoline and made him jump for 40 minutes, even as the boy screamed and tried to get down. At one point the boy fell, smacking one of his shins on the trampoline's metal edge, prosecutors say. In all, McCarthy is charged with three counts of aggravated battery and one count of unlawful restraint, all felonies. Prosecutors say the incidents took place on school grounds between Aug. 22 and Sept. 18. The alleged victims are boys and students in McCarthy's class. Friday in a Rolling Meadows courtroom, Cook County Judge Kay Hanlon set McCarthy's bail at $500,000. Later in the day, McCarthy walked out of jail after posting 10 percent of that, $50,000. At least one teacher's aide witnessed each of the alleged incidents, prosecutors say. The witnesses reported what they'd seen to the school's principal Tuesday. Terri McHugh, a spokeswoman for Schaumburg Township Elementary School District 54, said McCarthy was "immediately removed" from his classroom. Records show McCarthy was charged in 1998 with misdemeanor battery, but charges were dropped. He has been a full-time special ed teacher for three years at Frost. The school has 10 special ed teachers, with three aides to a class. During McCarthy's bond hearing, Assistant State's Attorney Lynn Palac described four separate incidents, including the one with the trampoline. On one occasion, McCarthy allegedly shoved a student's face into a metal cabinet after the student had tipped over a desk. McCarthy is also accused of tying a student to a chair with a jump-rope. McCarthy also allegedly shoved another student against a brick wall and then pressed his body against the child. McCarthy could not be reached for comment, and no one answered the door at the Palatine home he shares with his parents. The parents of the 12-year-old boy remained stunned by the allegations. McCarthy had seemed to genuinely care about their son, the boy's parents said. Contributing: Rosalind Rossi |
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