Trial begins for therapist charged with assault of autistic boy

Cassandra Colligan testified she knew almost immediately a 4-year-old autistic boy was mistreated while attending a Greensburg daycare in 2022.

Colligan, a speech therapist for the Westmoreland Intermediate Unit told jurors Tuesday she watched as behavioral health therapist Tonya Piper violently slammed a child into a chair and up against a table.

Piper, 52, of New Stanton is on trial on felony charges of aggravated assault as well as counts of simple assault and child endangerment in connection with an incident on Feb. 22, 2022 at the Cooley Day Care center at the First Presbyterian Church in Greensburg.

Piper worked for Family Behavioral Resources, a private contractor hired to work with the autistic child at the center.

Colligan testified the child became combative as she attempted to begin speech therapy. Piper, she said, physically restrained the child and twice carried him and used excessive force to get him into a chair, shoved him into a table then covered the boy’s mouth with her hand.

“It sounded like … he was in pain,” Colligan testified. “He winced, and I knew an impact had happened.”

She conceded she waited several days to report the incident.

“It is not easy to look back and recall all the things I could have done,” Colligan told jurors. “I wonder if I should have let someone know that because that is not the way to treat a child, or stop her.”

Security video that appeared to show the alleged incident was shown to the jurors.

The boy’s mother testified her son struggled to communicate. And without explanation in late February and into early March 2022 he resisted going to daycare. She said she noticed a bruise on his arm in late February but didn’t suspect the child was injured until she was contacted about the allegations by Greensburg police several weeks later.

Defense attorney Heidi DeBernardo Norton, in her opening statement to the jury, said the police incorrectly interpreted Piper’s actions and argued no assault occurred.

She suggested Piper did nothing more than pick up a screaming child and put him into a chair.

Norton told jurors there was no evidence the child sustained an injury.

“That woman has had over 500 children in her life,” Norton said. “She has been certified as a teacher for 25 years and never violated the duty of care of a child. She knew (the alleged victim) like her own child, and she loved him very very much.”

Greensburg Detective Justin Scalzo said Colligan’s description of events was confirmed by the daycare’s security video.

He testified no other daycare workers cooperated with investigators.

“Nobody else said anything. They didn’t want to be a rat,” Scalzo testified.

He later added, “I believe the tale of the tape says it all.”

The defense is expected to present evidence when the trial resumes Wednesday.