5-year-old autistic boy returns from school with black eyes

(NBC Palm Springs) – A mother in Desert Hot Springs is trying to find answers after her five-year-old autistic child came home from Bubbling Wells Elementary School with two black-eyes.

Crystal Rivas said her child Heath Rivas did not leave home with the bruises, but as much as she tries to find out if the bruises were from an accident or intentionally inflicted, she is left with more questions than answers.

Rivas said, “You don’t want anything like this to happen to your child, you know who can’t speak for himself who can’t defend himself, you have an obligation as a parent to do whatever you can.”

Rivas said her first priority was to keep her child safe, so she pulled him out of the school, but also to find out why her son who is non-verbal was harmed.

“I received a phone call from my son’s teacher it was 2:43 PM, she asked if my son went to school with one of his favorite’s book ripped, I said no,” Rivas said. “She then asked me if my son had come to school with a small dot that looked like a black eye on the inside corner of one of his eyes, I told her no.”

But she was actually terrified once she saw was described as small black dots.

Rivas said, “He had two full-on black eyes.”

She called the school for answers but it was after-hours, she called the office for the school buses, as she said the teacher had told her over the phone that her son got off the bus with the bruises.

Rivas said, “He called me back about an hour and a half later and he saw no type of self-injurious behavior or any other children attack my student on the bus.”

The Palm Springs Unified School District spokesperson through an email tells NBC Palm Springs confidentiality laws prevents them from sharing specifics but added, “If there is any follow up to the incident, the parent is notified if necessary.”

But Rivas said notifications have been faulty at best, “Yesterday when I talked to the Director of special education she explained to me that she did not even know my son was pulled out of school.”

She said the director told her if Heath would have shown-up with bruised eyes, it is the school’s protocol to take the child to the office, photograph the bruises, and file a report.

However, she was able to get some medical answers, “He had injury to his nose, the bridge of his nose which was causing the black eyes, my son’s nose was spread across on the front like a lion’s nose.”

The PSUSD spokesperson provided NBC Palm Springs with the following statement, “

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