Special-ed teacher arrested after allegedly putting 5-year-old student in chokehold

A New York City special education teacher has been arrested after allegedly putting a 5-year-old elementary school student in a chokehold.

Anthony Wicks, 46, was charged with second-degree assault and acting in a manner injurious to a child, WCBS-TV reported, adding that prosecutors said Wicks grabbed the student's neck with both hands and put him in a headlock.

'It was a very scary moment for him. … He said that ... his teacher's hands were tight around his neck, and that he said that he would be good and that he asked his teacher to let go.'

More from the station:

Wicks walked out of Manhattan Criminal Court silently with his husband Tuesday night, leaving on supervised release after his arraignment. The judge ordered Wicks not to have contact with the child, and when asked if he understood, Wicks replied to the judge, 'Yes, of course.'

This is Wicks' first arrest. He is a full-time special education teacher, and his attorney says Wicks has worked for the city's education department for five years and at a preschool for three years before that.

Police told WCBS the incident occurred Monday inside a classroom at P.S. 153 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Elementary School in Hamilton Heights. The child's older brother told the station the 5-year-old wouldn't go in the "time-out corner" as the head teacher instructed. Wicks is an assistant teacher, parents noted to WCBS.

"He was making a fuss about going in the time-out ... and then the teacher choked him," the brother told the station. "That teacher wasn't the one who was even talking to him. ... What other people have told me is that when he was getting choked, he was crying and then wouldn't calm down."

The child's father told WCBS the principal called around noon Monday to say the boy was fine but that the parents needed to come to school.

"It was a very scary moment for him," the child's father noted to the station. "He said that ... his teacher's hands were tight around his neck, and that he said that he would be good and that he asked his teacher to let go."

A Department of Education spokesperson told WCBS, "This alleged behavior is completely unacceptable, and this employee has been immediately removed from this site. Pending the outcome of the arrest and if convicted, we will pursue their termination. There is nothing more important than the safety and well-being of our students."

The station said it has not heard back from Wicks — who is awaiting arraignment on the charges — after an attempt to reach him by phone.

One parent of a student in the 5-year-old's class told WCBS she came to school Tuesday because she was upset the school never notified her about the incident.

"I had to find out through social media," she told the station. "That teacher is the teacher of my child, my 5-year-old child, and it's so upsetting because the school did not disclose anything. ... I went to go speak in there, and they couldn't give me any information. I want to withdraw him today."

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