SAN ANTONIO – Update (7:45 a.m. Oct. 21, 2022): The charges against an IDEA elementary school vice principal have been dropped, according to Bexar County officials.
Officials said the case against Tara Coleman Hunter was dismissed on Sept. 8 due to insufficient evidence.
Original (7:23 p.m., April 28, 2022): An area elementary school vice principal is in custody and charged with assault after she “lost control” and attacked a 5-year-old student in her office, according to Sheriff Javier Salazar.
The incident happened April 22 at an IDEA elementary school in the 10100 block of Kriewald Road, but the sheriff’s office wasn’t made aware of the situation until Wednesday, April 27.
According to Salazar, a mother told deputies that her five-year-old son, who attends the school, was assaulted by the school’s vice principal, 53-year-old Tara Coleman Hunter in her office.
The child’s mother told the sheriff’s office that she has been patient with the school district after the incident and that they were going to provide her with more information on what happened. But, she claimed she wasn’t being given the full story.
Salazar said the child’s mother captured her son’s outcry on video the day of the incident and she turned it over to deputies to aid in the investigation.
Her son was then brought in by the sheriff’s office to speak with a forensic examiner. His story was consistent with his mother’s recount, according to Salazar.
The child admitted that he became “unruly” while in Hunter’s office and struck her. However, the situation escalated further when Hunter “lost control” and attacked the child, Salazar said.
“This was handled way inappropriately,” the sheriff said during a news conference Thursday.
Hunter punched the child in the face or head and pushed him into a file cabinet, according to the sheriff. This caused the child to develop a bump on his head and bruising.
Deputies applied for a warrant for injury to a child and went to Hunter’s home to make an arrest.
Salazar said at first, she refused to comply and wouldn’t let deputies inside. After law enforcement said they would force entry, she surrendered willingly, according to Salazar.
Hunter is charged with bodily injury to a child, a third-degree felony.
