Teacher may face criminal charges for kicking 5-year-old student lying on floor

A Kansas City-area elementary school teacher has been fired and may face criminal charges after surveillance video captured her kicking a 5-year-old student who was lying on the floor. 

A Shawnee Mission School District spokesperson told NBC News earlier this week that Crystal Smith, a teacher at Bluejacket-Flint Elementary School in Shawnee, Kan., was fired about a month after the February incident. 

{mosads}Video of the encounter shows the elementary school student lying in a bookshelf of a library. After coming across the student, Smith yanks the girl out of the shelf. She later can be seen kicking the student in the back as she lies on the floor. 

No other students or adults were captured in the video. A district spokesperson confirmed to NBC News that the student was kicked by Smith. 

School officials discovered the surveillance video after the student’s mother said her daughter had told her a teacher hit her. The woman, who remains unidentified, said her daughter’s arm was covered in red marks. 

Smith was put on administrative leave before being fired on March 15. The Johnson County District Attorney’s Office is now reviewing the incident as a criminal case, The Kansas City Star reported. 

An attorney for the student’s parents told NBC News that the family is also pursing a civil suit against Smith. 

“When parents send their children to school, they have a reasonable expectation that they will be safe, and the schools have a legal duty to maintain their safety,” the attorney, Dan Zmijewski, said.