Girl says teacher taped her mouth shut for talking in class

ELIZABETH, N.J. -- Third-grader Angelique Correa Henderson said her teacher taped her mouth and three of her friends' mouths shut at their Elizabeth, N.J., school.

Angelique, a student at Winfield Scott Elementary School in Elizabeth, said she had been talking too much in class, but that the teacher's move scared her.

She said the teacher put the tape almost covering her nose. "She said that if we kept on talking she would rip it off of our mouths."

"My heart kept on beating fast really fast," she said Thursday. "I felt really scared."

Her father thinks what allegedly happened here crosses the line. "Who would do something like this and why?" said Mundford Henderson. "There are other methods to get kids to be quiet."

The school district filed a police report, but he plans to file on his own, Henderson said. The Elizabeth School District did not return calls requesting comment.

Angelique said after about 15 minutes she slowly ripped the tape off her face. "Everybody kept on laughing at us," she said.

Henderson has not heard anything from the district, he said. "I would love for the administration, the Board of Education, the school to apologize to my daughter, the other kids and myself."

The Elizabeth Police Department confirms that it is investigating the incident and that it is working in conjunction with Child Protective Services.