A 79-year-old Hillsborough County school bus aide is facing 14 counts of child abuse after surveillance video captured her repeatedly striking a 10-year-old student with autism.Sheriff Chad Chronister didn't hold back his disgus t watching that video and the details surrounding this case, and he says that his goal right now is to continue to look into exactly what happened, and that includes the possibility of whether it happened to other kids.WATCH: Disability advocates push for classroom cameras after bus aide charged with abusing student with autism Disability advocates push for classroom cameras after bus aide charged with abusing student with autismJuanita Wright, the bus aide, and bus driver Tonya Rice-Constant, 62, were arrested Jan. 26 following a child abuse investigation that began Nov. 14, 2025."On November 14 of last year, we received a telephone call from the Department of Children and Families hotline informing us that a witness observed a bus aide striking a child," Chronister said.The investigation started after a witness reported observing Wright striking the 10-year-old victim while on a Hillsborough County Public Schools bus parked at Caminiti Exceptional School. The victim is diagnosed with autism and ADHD and is minimally verbal. The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office shared the video, opening with a trigger warning. The video shows child abuse and is hard to watch.On Nov. 18, 2025, detectives reviewed video footage that showed Wright repeatedly abusing the child. The video also captured Wright and Rice-Constant laughing during the abuse.On Dec. 23, 2025, detectives reviewed additional video footage and identified 13 additional days in which Wright was observed abusing the child."This case goes far beyond abuse. It reveals a level of cruelty that is deeply disturbing," Chronister said. "A defenseless child was physically abused by someone entrusted with their care, while another adult failed to intervene and instead laughed." Wright was charged with 14 counts of child abuse. Rice-Constant was charged with failure to report child abuse.The video shows Wright pulling on the child's restraint system, striking him, yelling at him, mocking him and pulling his hair. Rice-Constant participated by mocking the child and threatening him with further violence."Teachers at his school thought something was odd. They saw some bruising under his eye and in his ear. But more importantly, every day, when it was time for the children to be released to go home and catch the school bus, they witnessed a complete change in his behavior. They reported it to the school district," Chronister said.The sheriff's office says the abuse of the Caminiti Exceptional School student occurred 14 times between Oct. 2 and Nov. 14. But the days of footage to review are limited."Unfortunately, the system only captures 30 days. I'm confident that this abuse carried on well before the 30 days that we were able to capture," Chronister said.Rice-Constant had been employed with the school district since 1997 and retired when the investigation began. Wright was employed since 2012 and was terminated.When questioned by deputies, Rice-Constant said the abuse was "jokeful, playful behavior." Wright refused to answer questions."It's complete rubbish," Chronister said of the driver's explanation. "You can see the terror that this child sustained."The child was on a special bus with a specially trained aide who received additional training on working with children with special needs."Which makes this even worse that she knew better. She was properly trained on how to react to different various forms of behavior," Chronister said.Another special needs child on the bus witnessed the abuse and was able to communicate what happened. The investigation remains active as detectives review footage to ensure there were no other victims.The parents said the child is doing better and they can witness complete improvement in his behavior since he's no longer around the two individuals.Neither suspect had a criminal history or employment history with any other types of abuse reported to the school district or DCF.More access to cameras is exactly what Stacey Hoaglund is fighting for.She says this proves the vulnerability of non-speaking children with disabilities and sparked advocacy efforts for Senate Bill 1170, which would require cameras in special education classrooms across Florida."That's them on good behavior, right? Because they know there's a camera, so imagine what they would be like if there was no camera. So if those individuals were inside of a classroom working with children, and the door shuts, and there's no camera, who knows the type of behavior that we could expect to see?" said Hoaglund, president of Disability Advocacy and Support Specialists.Now she's going to Tallahassee to get some help."There is a bill, Senate Bill 1170, and it is seeking to get across the state cameras in classrooms that are special education classrooms," Hoaglund said. "This is a bill that would place cameras in the special education classrooms, because that is really where we have a much more likely tendency for those children not be able to come home and tell mom and dad what happened to them in school."Hoaglund's son has autism. She says she understands the pain of trusting others."Sending your child to school every day takes a tremendous amount of trust in people that you may not even know, because if you don't have a good relationship with those who are not only educating your kids, but also on the bus with them, how are we expected to have trust? Especially when stories like this keep coming out," she said.The CDC reports autism rates have increased to 1 in 31 children. About a third of children with autism don't speak and also have an intellectual disability, making them particularly vulnerable to abuse."Those are the kids who are ending up in abused situations, because again, they can't report. They can't tell anybody what's going on with them," Hoaglund said.The fear extends beyond physical abuse. Hoaglund said children with disabilities can grow accustomed to mistreatment and think it's normal, making it even more difficult for families to discover abuse."Our children, when they're treated that way, can grow accustomed to it, so that they think that's actually normal," she said.Hoaglund advocates for inclusion as a protective measure, arguing that if the boy had been on a regular education bus, other students would have reported the abuse to their parents and teachers."When we segregate children, we put them in a special space, thinking they're going to be safer. In some instances, that couldn't be further from the truth," she said.The advocacy community has repeatedly heard similar stories, creating a crisis of trust among parents sending non-speaking children to school.Parents must watch for behavioral changes in their communication with their children."When you are a parent and your kid gets off the bus and they're a little disregulated, and they're not able to speak to you, but you could tell from their behavior that they're maybe very thankful and excited to be off the bus," Hoaglund said. "As parents, when we watch our children, and we watch their behavior, their behavior is communication."Senate Bill 1170 failed to advance last year but has renewed support this legislative session. Hoaglund said advocates are working harder than ever to build relationships with legislators and share personal stories."We have upwards of 40 legislators in the state of Florida who have a child or some personal connection in their family to a child with a disability," she said.The bill moved successfully through the House last year but stalled in the Senate. Advocates are now focusing on building Senate support through personal stories and relationship building."What makes all legislators, no matter if you're on your city council all the way up to the White House, the things that make the biggest impact on other people are your personal stories," Hoaglund said.Tampa Bay 28 is running the aides' mugshots because the Sheriff's Office believes more children could have been abused over the years, and they want parents to reach out.Here is the full statement that we received from Hillsborough County Public Schools: We are deeply disturbed by the actions that led to the arrest of a bus attendant and driver for the abuse of a child while in their care. The bus attendant, who was hired in 2012, was removed from duty back in November as soon as we were made aware of the allegations. Her employment has been terminated. The bus driver, who was hired in 1997, was arrested for failure to report. The driver retired from the district in November when the investigation began. The safety and well-being of our students is our top priority. We train our transportation team members on safety, student care, and their responsibility to report concerns immediately. When anyone violates that trust, we take swift action and will continue to cooperate fully with law enforcement as this matter moves forward.. ...read more read less