Legal documents reveal new details of abuse case against PSD bus paraprofessional
New details of alleged abuse by a Poudre School District paraprofessional tasked with assisting students with disabilities on buses have emerged in a recent court appearance, arrest documents and a letter from an attorney representing the family of three of the child victims.
The paraprofessional was fired by the district and arrested May 24, a day after the district and police say they were notified of accusations against him.
The district reviewed surveillance video from the bus because of a complaint from a parent the evening of May 22 that accused the paraprofessional on the bus of making an inappropriate comment that another student overheard.
That video footage showed "suspected physical abuse," and the police were contacted, district spokesperson Madeline Noblett previously told the Coloradoan.
Tyler Zanella, 36, was initially arrested on charges alleging he hit one student while on the bus multiple times April 25, May 19 and May 22. Since his initial arrest, investigators say five additional students have been identified as victims, and Zanella now faces nearly 130 charges accusing him of abusing and harassing students who police determined to be at-risk based on their disabilities.
Here's what we know about the case so far, including new details from a Tuesday court appearance, Zanella's initial arrest documents and a legal notice sent by the mother of three children who said they were abused by Zanella.
Zanella accused of abusing six at-risk children
Zanella was initially charged due to interactions with a kindergarten-aged child who attends Shepardson Elementary School. Investigators said they identified additional victims after reviewing more surveillance footage from the school bus. Here's the timeline of the investigation so far:
August 2022: Zanella begins working at PSD as a paraprofessional bus attendant, tasked with assisting bus drivers. A summary of the job's description, previously provided by PSD, reads: "Minimize driver distractions and assist with ensuring students are safe during the loading, unloading, transporting, and transferring on buses."
May 22: The district is notified of a complaint by a parent that their child overheard Zanella make an "inappropriate comment" on the bus that day.
May 23: An investigation into Zanella's conduct begins, and Zanella is suspended.
May 24: Zanella is arrested on nine charges, including three felony assault charges, on accusations of assaulting a kindergarten student with disabilities multiple times. Police say the assaults were caught on video on April 25, May 19 and May 22.
May 31: Police say they identified five additional victims of abuse in the case — all students with disabilities — increasing the total charges he is facing to nearly 130, with 30 felony assault charges.
Prosecutors say additional victims exist, more charges anticipated
In Zanella's court appearance Tuesday morning, Senior Deputy District Attorney Laura Hinojos told the judge that prosecutors anticipate filing charges relating to two additional victims that Hinojos said investigators identified in more video footage they've reviewed.
Hinojos told the court the video footage also shows Zanella and another witness making threats to hurt the person who reported him to the district.
Charges related to those alleged threats and the two additional victims have not been filed as of Wednesday morning, according to online court documents.
Judge Daniel McDonald agreed with the prosecution to raise Zanella's bond — which was set at $5,000 when he faced charges relating to one victim — to $40,000. He had previously posted his lower bond but had been in jail since his arrest in this case because he was serving a 12-day jail sentence in an unrelated matter.
Arrest documents detail some initial abuse allegations
More information about the initial abuse allegation that led to Zanella's arrest was revealed in arrest documents obtained by the Coloradoan this week.
According to the arrest documents — which only address the initial allegations Zanella was arrested on regarding a single victim, not the additional charges filed later — police say video footage from the bus shows multiple instances of abuse in April and May.
The district previously told the Coloradoan all PSD buses are equipped with a minimum of four cameras, and this footage was reviewed from the bus serving route No. 2253.
Here's what police say video footage from the bus shows:
The morning of April 25: Zanella hitting the child three separate times with a backpack when the child gets on and off the bus and into their seat.
The morning of May 19: Zanella looking over at the bus driver before hitting the student in the back of the head.
The morning of May 22: Zanella hitting the student with his fist repeatedly five times, then hitting another student in the head a few minutes later.
The afternoon of May 22: Zanella hitting the child once on the side of the head. Police say it appears the child covers their ears and head in an attempt to protect themselves.
Police say in the arrest affidavit that they also received a photo from a school counselor showing the student in the video with two red marks on their head.
In a meeting with the child's family, police said the family told them their child has been showing signs of trauma, including being afraid to go on the bus and even running away to avoid getting on the bus when the child used to like riding the bus. The family also reported their child disliking baths now because they are afraid of anything touching their head.
According to the affidavit, an officer met with Zanella at his home, and he told them he had a good relationship with the children and they would tease each other by slapping each other on the hands. He said he sometimes he flicked children on the head, police said, noting “he thinks it may go too far, but it is not with intent to harm anyone."
PSD said district staff had reviewed 190 hours of footage of Zanella on bus route No. 2253, the route the initial student was on when three previous assaults were alleged to have occurred. The additional charges related to the five other named victims came from reviewing those clips, PSD said, and the route served multiple schools.
Zanella worked on multiple routes with the district, but there is no other video footage available of Zanella working on PSD buses, the district has said.
When the Coloradoan asked PSD on Friday why there isn't video footage from other buses, the district did not provide an answer.
Mother of 3 lays out claims of abuse against her children
The mother of three elementary school children with disabilities sent a legal notice letter to Poudre School District last week alleging Zanella abused of all three children throughout the school year and it has left them traumatized.
The Coloradoan is not identifying the mother, her children or the school named in the letter due in order to protect their identities. The children attended one of the 10 elementary schools the district said were impacted by this case. In total, the district identified 19 schools on Zanella’s bus route.
It is unclear if any or all of the children mentioned in the letter are named victims in the criminal case. The mother's attorneys, who shared the letter with the Coloradoan, have not responded to further requests for comment.
According to the letter, the district informed the children's mother on May 24 that video footage reviewed by staff appeared to show her children being abused. She requested her own review of the footage and did so on May 26 alongside the district’s human resources director and school principal.
“The video footage depicts multiple instances of harrowing abuse by Zanella,” the letter claims, including instances of Zanella allegedly hitting two of the children with his hand and phone and “ramming” their heads into the windows. One of the children reportedly told his mother “Zanella hit him with his phone many times.”
The letter says the abuse was done in a “secretive way against the most vulnerable children who could not possibly report it.” One of this mother’s children is nonverbal and is transported in a five-point harness, the letter states, making them “completely defenseless against Zanella’s abuse and unable to verbalize (their) pain to anyone.”
The letter also alleges the district potentially failed to:
Review any video footage of Zanella’s behavior on the bus prior to March
Properly train staff to detect signs of abuse
Properly report his actions as mandatory reporters of child abuse or neglect
Noblett confirmed that Poudre School District received this letter but will not comment further at this time.
Noblett said the district does not have a policy to proactively review footage or review video footage of a new hire, but the district has an external party conducting an independent review of the situation and it's possible the district could make changes to its existing practices or policy based on the results of that review.
All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in court. Arrests and charges are merely accusations by law enforcement until, and unless, a suspect is convicted of a crime.
This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Poudre School District bus abuse: What legal documents allege happened
