Teacher arrested, accused of zip tying 11-year-old student
SAN JUAN — A PSJA middle school teacher has been charged with restraining an 11-year-old student with zip ties.
Jose Manuel Martinez, 25, was arrested at his home about noon Thursday at his home on the 600 block of Bluebonnet Street in Pharr, according to San Juan Police Chief Juan Gonzalez.
Martinez was later charged with unlawful restraint of a minor at an arraignment hearing at the San Juan Municipal Court.
According to a police affidavit in the case, the boy’s mother told staff at Austin Middle School in San Juan that Martinez had tied the student’s hands with zip ties as he sat in a chair during in-school suspension Dec. 11. The victim’s mother told police Martinez tied the child and prevented him from going to the nurse’s office after he complained of having trouble breathing.
A woman who was present during the incident told police the student had used vulgar language and threatened to run out of class, the statement said. The woman also said the boy became violent and began hitting his hands against walls, refusing to do his assigned class work. She told police the child was tied for about five minutes — this was the third time the boy had been restrained in this manner.
Unlawful restraint of a child is a state jail felony. If Martinez is convicted, he could be incarcerated for up to two years and forced to pay a $10,000 fine.
