NY School Worker Indicted For Submerging Autistic Children In Pool: DA

WEST NYACK, NY — A teaching assistant who is accused of submerging two non-verbal autistic children at the Jesse J. Kaplan School pool now faces additional charges.

The children were ages 6 and 7 at the time of the Jan. 21, 2025 incident, according to the Rockland County District Attorney’s office.

A grand jury in Rockland County voted to indict Catherine Rios, 54, of Nyack, District Attorney Tom Walsh announced Tuesday.

The indictment charges Rios with two counts of first-degree endangering the welfare of an incompetent or physically disabled person, and two counts of endangering the welfare of a child.

Rios pushed the heads of the two children underwater with both of her hands at the school pool, according to the district attorney’s office.

Rios, who has denied wrongdoing, is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday before Judge Kevin Russo in Rockland County Court.

The indictment follows charges filed by the Clarkstown Police Department in March.

Rios was working as a teacher’s assistant for the school, which is at 65 Parrott Rd. The school serves students between the ages of five and 22 who have autism, cognitive disabilities, medical fragility and/or multiple disabilities, according to its website.

“The defendant knowingly acted in a manner likely to be injurious to the physical, mental or moral welfare of persons who are unable to care for themselves because of a physical disability, mental disease or defect,” the district attorney’s office said, in announcing the indictment Tuesday.

Rockland Boards of Cooperative Educational Services, or BOCES, put Rios on administrative leave “immediately” after the incident, and she has had no contact with students, according to Scott Salotto, BOCES’ director of communications and governmental relations.