PEORIA — Therapist Adolfo Salas was arrested Thursday morning on charges of child abuse and assault after surveillance video showed him kicking a 5-year-old nonverbal child with autism in the face on a Monday afternoon inside a classroom at Soar Autism Center in Peoria.
The footage shows Salas directing the child to pick up trash from the floor before lifting a trash can and kicking the boy in the face with his right foot. The physical impact caused bruising and swelling on the child. Salas was captured on video stating that he kicked the child before leaving the room.
Administrators at the facility notified the family of the incident the day after it occurred. Salas was scheduled to appear before a judge on Thursday evening for an initial court hearing to determine bond.
Ian Goldstein, a spokesperson for Soar Autism Center, said in a statement, "Soar Autism Center takes the safety and wellbeing of every child in our care extremely seriously. We acted immediately: the family was notified, the matter was reported to the appropriate authorities, we are cooperating with the appropriate review process, we conducted an internal investigation, and the employee involved was removed from client care immediately and is no longer employed by Soar." Facility administrators also met with the victim's relatives to confirm Salas's termination and outline plans to strengthen oversight and safety procedures.
The victim's grandmother said, "He's a sweet boy, and for him to be kicked in the face, I felt his pain." She added, "There's not even any words I can say for a person hitting a child like that. You should be ashamed of yourself, especially a child that has a disability and doesn't understand what you're doing to them."