Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Susanne Means Accused of Burning Boy with Cooking Pan (FOUND NOT GUILTY)

A longtime Allen teacher stands accused of using a cooking pan to burn the buttocks of a 14-year-old disabled boy in early 2008.

A Collin County grand jury indicted Susanne Means earlier this month on a charge of injury to a child, a first-degree felony.

The indictment says she knowingly caused serious bodily injury to the boy, using a cooking pan and also an unknown object. The incident is alleged to have occurred at Lowery Freshman Center, an Allen ISD school.

Means denied harming the boy when interviewed by police on March 13, 2008, a police affidavit shows.

She could not be reached Monday.

Means, 45, was a special education teacher at Lowery when the allegation surfaced in early March 2008.

She was reassigned from classroom teaching on March 12, 2008, and worked in the administration building in the last school year, said Kent Turner, chief human resources officer for Allen ISD.

Turner said Means resigned from the district earlier this month. She had worked for Allen ISD since 1997.

An Allen police affidavit filed on July 9, 2008, says Means caused burns to the boy, and describes him as "mentally challenged."

The affidavit says the boy's father became aware of the boy's injuries in early March 2008 and took him to a physician.

The physician found a 12-inch diameter "scald" in a circular pattern on the buttocks. The boy later told an interviewer that the teacher applied a hot pan once to each of his buttocks, the affidavit says.

The investigating officer found her classroom included a kitchen that had a stove and "various cookware," the affidavit says.

The affidavit also says Means failed a polygraph test administered by a U.S. Secret Service agent.

Means was booked into the Collin County Detention Center on July 30, 2008, and posted bail the same day. An Allen police spokeswoman said she did not know why nearly a year passed before the grand jury returned an indictment.

__________________________

New Information as of 7/21/2011

""QUOTE":
Susanne Means was found NOT GUILTY today. You may verify this through the Crimes Against Children Court of Collin County, Texas.  Furthermore, a family friend most likely coached the victim to falsely name Mrs. Means who was a dedicated and compassionate special education teacher for years. This false accusation has caused her family over 3 years of unimaginable anguish and suffering, has cost them tens of thousands of dollars, and ruined the retirement she worked so hard towards. Worst of all, because of this careless, baseless and evil accusation, she understandably has no desire to teach again. That is a damn shame for the many children who would have had a wonderful teacher."


8 comments:

  1. Just the fact of this story being posted here smacks of the assumption of guilt...which would be a WRONG assumption. I have known Susanne and her husband for almost 15 years and she is a compassionate and dedicated wife, mother, and teacher and a Christian woman. I feel this mentally challenged student was abused outside of school and coached to name her as his abuser. Susanne weighs all of 100 lbs, and what this article fails to address is she would have had to pull the student's pants down in a classroom with 2 aides and other students. All Life Skills classrooms have kitchens, and surely a student receiving 2nd degree burns to the buttocks would cry out, sending half the school running to see what was going on. Anyone, especially a dedicated teacher, accused of this crime would be a nervous wreck and probably fail a polygraph. Susanne COMPLETELY PASSED a subsequent polygraph with one of the most respected technicians in the U.S. My thoughts and prayer are with this wonderful woman who has devoted her life to teaching special needs students most teachers do not want to teach, and I hope whomever was so evil as to coach this vulnerable and suggestable student to name her is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

    Dawn Wilcox R,N., B.S.N

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  2. I must also agree with the above Anonymous commenter. I believe most people are making the assumption that because she failed the polygraph made by someone within Secret Service makes her guilty. Now, while polygraphs are highly accurate if performed by the right person most attorneys actually advise their clients to avoid government polygraphs because they rarely show the accused is telling the truth. In fact, in Collin County Terri Bauer's Juvenile Sex Offender program uses a third-party polygrapher to ensure that juvenile's convicted of sex crimes are indeed following probation. Even a government funded program choses to not use the government to polygraph. I honestly have a hard time believing this story.

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  3. Susanne is a heartless woman! How could you do such a thing to a disabled boy? In the end you know what you did and you take it to the grave with you, just hope the devil isn't so mercy with you woman!!
    RNS.

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    Replies
    1. U r a sick person
      get it through your thick skull
      SHE DID NOT DO ANYTHING TO THAT CHILD

      Delete
  4. For the record, she failed 2 polygraph tests. And for you heartless morons so worried about her troubles, did you once think of the victims troubles? What his family is going through?? Or him, himself?

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    Replies
    1. Get your facts straight dip stick,,,
      She failed one polygraph test under duress and....
      Passed the second professionally administered test with
      NO DECEPTION- All truthful responses rating
      SHE DID NOTHING WRONG EVER WHILE TEACHING!

      Delete
  5. Amen to what your saying Anonymous

    ReplyDelete