LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A Las Vegas teacher accused of “body-slamming” a toddler into a cot accepted a plea deal after she was arrested on child abuse charges last year, records showed.
Eryka Westover, who is also referenced as Eryka Slizeski, 33, was arrested on May 17, 2024 on charges of child abuse, records showed. Westover was a lead teacher at Shenker Academy.
On Jan. 18 Westover pleaded no contest to contributing to the delinquency or negligence of a minor, which means she accepted the conviction without accepting guilt. She was ordered to stay out of trouble, enter anger management counseling and no longer work at a daycare or babysitting, records showed.
On April 1, 2024, a mother walked into LVMPD’s Summerlin Area Command with her daughter to report abuse by her teacher, Westover, after the class assistants told her that Westover “body-slammed” her daughter during naptime, according to an arrest report.
Video taken on Feb. 5, 2024, showed the child swaddled and Westover angry at her. Westover becomes so frustrated to the point that she allegedly body-slammed her into the sleeping cot. The report notes that the video does not show the body slam because the camera falls but once it picks back up, Westover is heard saying, “Yes, I just body slammed you, you’re fine. Go to bed,” the report said.
Westover swaddled the child so tightly that she couldn’t move her extremities because the child was difficult to put to sleep, police said.
Swaddling was not an approved technique at the school and Shenker Academy was very strict about interactions with children and used the “Love and Logic” approach when children acted out, according to the report.
Westover also allegedly was “slapping, hitting, and pinching children,” police said.
The classroom assistants said they noticed Westover being rough with the children and started to get complaints from the children that she was slapping and pinching them. One of the assistants told police that she had been Westover’s assistant for three years however, that year some of the kids were more difficult and she noticed Westover would target these students, according to the report.
Westover told police that prior to the semester she had never had issues with students however, she felt that this set of kids was the most difficult she’s dealt with due to them being born during COVID.
When asked about the video of her “body-slamming” the toddler, she said she was frustrated and her tone of voice was “not the best.” She claimed she didn’t remember saying “Yes, I body-slammed you,” however, she felt like the student was a good kid and “Didn’t deserve what she did to her,” according to the report.
