Donald Cameron Perkins, a 42-year-old behavioral specialist at a Texas school for students with disabilities, faces felony charges after allegedly shoving a nonverbal autistic student to the ground. The incident on April 23 at Carlton Pre-Vocational Center in Cypress led to a medical emergency that left the child brain-dead and resulted in his death days later. Perkins was arrested and released on bond.
On April 23, Perkins was called to a school bus at the Carlton Pre-Vocational Center after the student, identified as S.M., grabbed food from the bus driver and put it in his mouth. Perkins claimed the child fell outside while being escorted to a classroom, but surveillance footage contradicted this account, according to a probable cause affidavit from the Cypress-Fairbanks Police Department. Video inside the school captured Perkins forcefully pushing S.M. from behind as they entered a classroom, causing the student to become slightly airborne and land chest-down on the tile floor with a loud thud audible on the recording. Investigators noted the push was unprovoked, excessive, and not an authorized restraint technique, especially given S.M.'s known choking risks and food still in his mouth. Moments after getting up and sitting at his desk, S.M.'s condition deteriorated rapidly. Staff noticed choking symptoms, his body went limp, and Perkins unsuccessfully attempted the Heimlich maneuver before emergency services arrived. The student was taken to Memorial Hermann–Cypress Hospital, then airlifted to Texas Children's Hospital in Houston, where scans confirmed catastrophic oxygen deprivation and no brain activity. His father later informed police of the death. Perkins, arrested on one count of felony injury to a disabled individual, posted $30,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in court on Monday.