A jury has acquitted a former special education assistant in Alamogordo of battery for striking an autistic girl she said kicked her in the groin and knocked her glasses off.
An Otero County jury acquitted Nancy Carroll of the misdemeanor charge after a one-day trial late last week.
Prosecutors allege that Carroll intentionally slapped the girl in the face. Carroll testified the girl kicked her and she was walking the child back to a desk and telling her she should not hit people when the child hit her in the face and knocked her glasses off. She said she touched the girl on the face but it wasn't a slap.
Carroll no longer works at Alamogordo Public Schools.
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Information from: Carlsbad Current-Argus, http://www.currentargus.com/
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.