Private San Angelo School Hit With Lawsuit Over Child Abuse

Amidst P.K.'s tearful pleas for her parents, the Trinity Lutheran School teacher seized her test packet, guided her to the classroom's front door, forcefully knocks the pencil from P.K.'s hand, and angrily calls for help from the front office through the in-classroom intercom. The teacher then vociferously expresses her frustration over the intercom to another Trinity Lutheran School staff member concerning P.K

“She needs to get out of my room! She does not listen! She does not do anything. She distracts everyone while we’re trying to take a test. I’m not doing it! She needs to get out of here. Get out! I don’t want her a part of my room!”

From the moment P.K. rejoined the class, audio evidence reveals the teacher was back to screaming, yelling, and isolating P.K. from the rest of the class during a coloring activity:

 “No! Go to your seat now! You have no privileges! Go sit in the back. You do not get to do any...anything anyone else gets to do. You get to sit in the back by yourself because you suck. Sit! That is your new desk. A new place to be."

Instead of promptly addressing the severity of the situation, questioning the teacher, investigating the events leading up to that point, or contacting P.K.'s parents to pick her up, the Killingsworths allege that Trinity Lutheran School opted to send the four-year-old back into the classroom with the same frustrated, hostile, and irate teacher. The parents claimed the teacher isolated P.K., denied her privileges, and even threatened to call the police, telling the frightened child that she would go to jail.

Following the coloring activity, the surveillance footage, a critical piece of evidence in the lawsuit, shows the teacher pretending to dial 911, falsely reporting P.K. to the police, and frightening the child with the prospect of imprisonment. P.K. is heard crying and begging for her parents as the teacher continues to berate her in front of the class:

 “Guess what? I’m going to call the police. And you’re going to go to jail. Yea! You need to get locked up and go far away from your family and from all of your friends and you need to go to jail. You need to go to jail. You are so bad.”

The audio indicated that the teacher picked up the phone and pretended to dial 9-1-1 as P.K. and the class watched and listened to her:

“Hi. Hi yes, my name is Justice Thomas, I am a teacher here at Trinity Lutheran. Will you come and please pick up a little girl by the name of P.K.? She needs to go in a car and go to jail because she is not a good person, and she doesn’t listen to anything, so she needs to go and be taken away from her mommy and her daddy because she does not listen. Okay? I’ll call and tell her about Mommy and Daddy. Okay. Her mommy and daddy said to take her?”

The teacher turned her attention to the crying P.K. and yells:

“Oh, guess what? Your mommy and daddy are so tired of how you act that they don’t want you at home either; they want you to go to jail too because you don’t listen. Okay well, this is your mommy right here!”

After pretending to have spoken directly with P.K.’s parents on the phone, she turns to P.K. and says: 

“Your mom said knock it off. That you’re going to go to jail because you don’t listen. Too bad so sad. Okay thank you so much we’ll see [P.K.] in a month. Okay bye-bye!”

“Okay guess what? I guess we’re going to have to pack up all of your stuff and when the cops get you, they’re going to take you to jail and you’re going to be all by yourself!"

” You’re going to be locked in the dungeon and there is nothing there and you’re not going to talk to your mommy and daddy. No fun. Go pick up your stuff so when the cops get here, they can come get you!”

The entire classroom witnessed the distressing scene as P.K. wept, overwhelmed with fear and pleading for her parents. A concerned young girl in the class voices her anxiety about the possibility of the police arriving. Instead of soothing the frightened children or escorting P.K. to the office, the teacher persistently berates her in front of the entire class.

“You don’t want to listen [and] that’s what happens... that’s what happens... they get to go to jail. People that don’t do what they’re supposed to do and don’t listen, you know what they do? They go to jail. Your mommy and daddy are not in jail. They are not in jail. You won’t ever see them. You’ll be at the jail. Cry about it. And guess what? Shhhhhh.... Guess what? in jail? Do you think there are a bunch of little kids like your age in jail? No! Guess who they all are? They’re big grown-up scary people in jail! And going to be the only teeny-tiny little baby in the whole jail."

”Mommy and Daddy are not going to help you because guess what? They want you to go. They don’t want you at home. Momma and Daddy, they’re gone. They’re gone and you’re going to jail.”

Disturbingly, the teacher's actions did not stop there. The audio captures an instance where P.K. is allegedly physically abused, with the teacher forcefully grabbing and dragging the child. In the video, P.K. is later seen crying and sitting alone in a closet, while the teacher continues to verbally assault her.

P.K. continues to cry and began to panic out of fear as she stood at the teacher’s desk. She dropped the pencil case she is holding to the floor. The teacher jumped out of her chair and rushed at P.K. The teacher grabbed P.K., pushed her to the ground, and picked up P.K.’s pencil case, and pushed pencil case into P.K.’s body. The teacher then yanked P.K. off the ground and drags her toward the front door.

The teacher did not stop there, unfortunately. She continued to traumatize the 4-year-old student:

“Hey, guess what? Come here. Your mommy and your dada do not want you. They don’t want you. Do you think they want you and your whiny crybaby? No, they don’t. Guess what? Nope. They don’t. They don’t want to be around you like this. It’s annoying. And bratty.

"You cause so many problems in this classroom. You are the worst. You don’t listen. You don’t even try to listen. You don’t try to be good. You don’t try to be sweet. You don’t try to be helpful like any of these other girls. 'Cause all those girls are good girls.”[Redacted name of another female student] is a good girl, she’s a smart girl. She helps people. She’s smart, she’s funny, she has friends. You’re not. You’re not smart. You don’t have friends because you’re rude and you don’t listen. And every single kid in here does not like you. They do not want to be around you because you are annoying. Because you annoy every person that’s around.”

The legal complaint also mentioned that P.K. was not the only child subjected to inappropriate discipline on that day. Another male student in the class allegedly faced similar verbal aggression from the teacher.

Trinity Lutheran School is now facing this lawsuit for the alleged failure to protect P.K. from emotional and physical harm during the incident. The parents, through their lawsuit, seek accountability and justice for the trauma their child experienced under the school's supervision.

An investigation into the teacher's conduct revealed that the teacher was dealing with PTSD, anxiety, and depression. In the month leading up to the incident, the teacher experienced panic attacks, expressed suicidal thoughts, was hospitalized for such thoughts, and prescribed medication. Despite these challenges, the lawsuit alleged Trinity Lutheran School did not place her on administrative leave or provide additional support. The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) and the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (THHS) conducted an independent investigation, citing Trinity Lutheran School for violating childcare standards.

Consequently, the spokeswoman for the Killingsworths, Holly Griggs, said Trinity Lutheran School was placed on a six-month corrective action plan to ensure compliance with Texas childcare laws, involving regular evaluations, monitoring through video cameras, director-led visits, and additional training in discipline and child abuse prevention.

The plaintiffs argue that the school's negligence in maintaining a safe environment resulted in harm to their child, P.K., and other similarly situated children, breaching the duty owed to them. The lawsuit seeks accountability for the school's failure to exercise necessary care, intervene for child safety, and maintain an appropriate environment.

The lawsuit claimed that the egregiously negligent actions of the Defendant (four counts of negligence), as detailed in this case, qualify for the imposition of exemplary damages under Chapter 41 of the Texas Civil Practices and Remedies Code. Therefore, the Plaintiffs are seeking an award of exemplary damages against the Defendant.

The case was also referred to a criminal court. Justice was arrested and charged with injury to a child by the San Angelo Police Department on April 14, 2021. The case was eventually settled with 51st District Attorney Allison Palmer  and signed by 51st District Judge Carmen Dusek giving Justice deferred adjudication on June 30, 2022. Justice was required to pay a $2,500 fine and spend 10 years on probation. After completing her probation, the charges will be dropped and her record cleared. Injury to a child is a third degree felony in Texas.

The Killingsworths initially sued Trinity on Jan. 11, 2023. Trinity answered attempting to settle and the Killingsworths declined. An amended lawsuit with greater detail was filed on Feb. 1, 2024. Trinity has not answered the amended lawsuit.

The lawsuit seeks damages and exemplary damages from Trinity that, the Killingsworths stated in the lawsuit, may exceed the limits of a district court in Texas.