A misdemeanor trial was filed Thursday for a teacher who prosecutors say assaulted a special needs student by dragging him around the classroom during a behavioral outburst.

However, defense attorney Joe White said the child was enrolled in a behavioral intervention support plan the mother signed, which he said could protect the teacher’s actions.

Cleveland County Special Judge Cory Ortega is presiding over the case in Cleveland County Circuit Court, where prosecutors allege Norman Public Schools special needs teacher Jayme Stepp injured a child at Wilson Elementary in August 2023 by moving him with arm floor force, according to the affidavit.

Prosecutors called the child to the witness stand.

“Ms. Stepp was dragging me around the room,” he said.

White asked him where his shoulder hurt.

“I think it was my right,” said the child.

White said that “Three adults were in that room — at least two out of three will tell you that Ms. Stepp did no harm.”

However, Assistant District Attorney Jacob Hilburn, prosecuting, asked the mother if she had ever consented to corporal punishment in any way, and she said no.

On the day of the incident, Aug. 18, 2023, the child was staying with his father and it was the first week of school, according to testimony. A positive and uneventful morning opened in activity just before the episode began, according to witnesses.

The boy got into a disagreement with another student, then picked up a chair, held it over his head and threw it into an empty space, the boy’s mother, Amber Bates, told the court.

The teacher tried to defuse the situation and raised his voice to tell the children to calm down and listen, according to court testimony.

At this point, two students hid under a desk, court officials said. The child’s mother said they were hiding from Ms. Stepp, while White said they were hiding from the then 7-year-old who threw the chair.

The boy then began banging his head against a blackboard repeatedly, court testimony said. At this point, Stepp took the child by either the hand or the arm and led him — or dragged him, according to the indictment — across the room to place him in a chair.

The kid said this is where he scraped his leg. His pediatrician later diagnosed a slight separation of the shoulder, although at no time were there visible marks on the shoulder, according to his mother. White argued that the shoulder injury could have been caused when the child lifted the heavy chair into the air, rather than by Stepp’s actions.

The alleged scratch on the leg was minor, with a pink mark peeling off the top layer of skin, White said, according to the photos.

The child’s mother called it “the most minor” of his injuries at Stepp.

That day, as teachers screamed and the child cried, Stepp noticed the mark on his leg, which she thought might have been carpet burn, and took him to the school nurse, White said.

The school nurse put a bandage on his leg and said it was fine, according to the child’s mother.

Mom said that later, at the usual end of the school day, she picks him and the rest of her kids up, and he said something in passing about his shoulder. It was a busy day and the comment slipped through the cracks, she said, but later someone from the school texted to follow up and make sure she was OK.

The mother said she then called the child and his father on loudspeaker to talk about what had happened. On the phone, she confirmed that the child said his shoulder and leg hurt. He had the father take pictures of the injuries, she said. The photos were also taken by the pediatrician.

The mother decided to arrange a meeting with the behavior coordinators at the school to talk about what had happened, then called the police.

An officer was dispatched to the school and they began taking statements, she said.

Prior to this event, the child would sometimes throw things or refuse to participate, according to both the prosecution and the defense, which has led to house calls in the past.

According to his mother, the child used to love school, but now he hates it.

When Hillburn asked him how he felt about school now, he said “It’s fine.” The child transferred to schools in 2023. He also failed to identify Stepp in court, which the mother said was due to his age and the fact that he had not seen the teacher in a year.

Before the inciting event, Stepp was a teacher’s assistant for one of the child’s siblings, and the mother said she had always heard good things about Stepp.

“I didn’t know her very well,” although she was excited that Stepp would begin teaching her children, the mother said.

Hillburn asked the kid on the witness stand if he knew what the truth was.

“Something that is not made up,” said the child.

In the course of preparing this story, The Transcript attempted to access court records for the case. However, online registrations at OSCN.net “Case not found” appeared. The case number is invalid or does not exist.” According to the Cleveland County District Attorney’s office, Judge Ortega removed the records from the website, allegedly to keep the records inaccessible to the jury in the case.