Colorado mom speaks out after horrifying video shows her nonverbal autistic son being beaten by an aide on a school bus - as more parents share fears their children were also abused, citing mysterious injuries

A Colorado mother has spoken out after viewing footage of her autistic 10-year-old son being abused by an aide on a school bus, and now the parents of other suspected victims are stepping forward.

Jessica Vestal's son, Dax, was sent home from the Joshua School in Englewood with unexplained bruises and cuts on several occasions.

She was unsure what caused the injuries until surveillance footage surfaced showing an aide repeatedly punching the child, who has severe autism and no verbal ability, while they sat together on the school bus. 

The aide, 29-year-old Kiarra Monte Laron Jones, was arrested and charged with third-degree assault on an at-risk person last week.

Now, Vestal and two other families are speaking out, asserting that their children suffered abuse at the hands of people entrusted with their care.

Jessica Vestal and her husband, Devon, spoke at a press conference on Tuesday to detail the abuse their 10-year-old nonverbal and autistic son, Dax, suffered at the hands of his school aide

Brittany Yarborough, pictured with her husband Kevin, also suspect their 11-year-old, Hunter, was injured by the same aide after suffering a broken toe 

Horrifying footage shows Dax being beaten by his aide, 29-year-old Kiarra Jones, who allegedly abused at least three children for months

Vestal appeared alongside Brittany Yarborough, the mother of an 11-year-old, severely autistic and nonverbal boy, during an interview with TMZ Live on Wednesday.

Vestal said she initially assumed that the injuries were a result of Dax's self-injurious behavior, commonly abbreviated as SIB.

'They get upset and the best way for them in that moment to communicate their frustrations is to take it out on themselves,' she explained.

But in January, she began to suspect that someone else was inflicting the bruises on her son due to their placement and severity.

One of the attacks was captured in the now-released footage, which depicts Dax being elbowed and struck repeatedly on March 18.

Video from the school bus shows Jones elbowing the 10-year-old in his stomach, then striking him in the face and slamming his head against the bus window. 

Photos released by the family's attorney show severe bruises on his feet from the incident last month, but other evidence shows cuts on his lips and bruises on his neck two months earlier.

Speaking to TMZ on Wednesday, Yarbrough said her own son, Hunter, began coming home with 'unexplained injuries' last September.

Jones was charged with third-degree assault following the March 18 incident and is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on May 3

Dax, Hunter and another boy were allegedly abused by Jones when they traveled on a specialized school bus operated by Littleton Public Schools. All three boys attend Joshua School, which offers specialized instruction for autistic students

The parents appeared at Tuesday's press conference to lambast the school for failing to protect their children

'I think the biggest thing was a broken toe. He started limping one day, took him to the hospital and he had a broken toe, with no inciting incident or anything that happened at home or at school,' she said.

'Unfortunately, we've been told that the video footage only goes back eight weeks.'

Yarbrough has yet to hear back from investigators, who are reviewing hours of footage and have yet to say whether it depicts any attacks on her son.

'But because the bigger injuries we're concerned about happened last fall, we may never have proof of that. And that's really difficult,' she said.

Both women insist the abuse could have been stopped months ago, if only school staff had reviewed the footage.

'It could have been stopped then, had someone done literally anything,' Vestal said. 

The distraught mothers appeared at a press conference on Tuesday night, where they spoke through tears about the injuries inflicted on their children by those meant to protect them.

'How dare you fail my son in such an astonishingly preventable way?' Vestal demanded.

'How dare you fail my son in such an astonishingly preventable way?' Vestal said as she wiped away tears

Yarbrough (right) has yet to hear back from investigators, who are reviewing school bus surveillance footage and have yet to say whether it depicts any attacks on her son

Yarbrough's husband, Kevin, said he felt like he had failed his son.

'I failed him by trusting that the ladies on the bus and the people of the Littleton school district would also be there to protect him,' he said.

'I had assumed that when his teachers had a rough time getting off the bus, that there wasn’t a grown woman who was verbally and physically torturing my son and his friends.'

The heartbroken father explained that his nonverbal son lacks 'the ability to tell me when school is hurting him' or his friends.

'My son was abused by the people who were put into place specifically to protect him,' he said, voice trembling. 

Dax, Hunter and another student were allegedly abused by Jones on a specialized school bus operated by Littleton Public Schools.

They rode the bus every day as they traveled back and forth between their homes and the Joshua School, a specialized school offering one-on-one instruction for autistic students.

Another parent, Blake McBride, said he got a call from Littleton superintendent Todd Lambert, who 'ensured us that our son was not present or a victim in this case.'

However, 24 hours later, he was told by a police officer that his son was the second victim appearing on surveillance video.

According to an affidavit filed by Englewood Police, an officer reviewed footage of Jones pulling the little boy's hair in mid-February.

'My husband and I have struggled to find words to adequately express how incredibly horrified and appalled we are,' the child's mother said at Tuesday's press conference.

In an email in January, Vestal inquired about bruises on her son's arm, neck and thigh. However, the district supervisor insisted that 'nothing out of the ordinary' had occurred on the bus ride home

Photos show severe bruises on Dax's feet from the March 18 incident, but other evidence shows cuts on his lips and bruises on his neck two months earlier

Beginning in September, the three families noticed unexplained injuries on their including scratches, bruises, a lost tooth, a broken toe, a black eye and other bruises, their attorney said in a statement. 

They also observed significant shifts in their children's behaviors and raised their concerns to the Joshua School.

In an email in January, Vestal inquired about bruises on her son's arm, neck and thigh.

'We reviewed the video and there is nothing out of the ordinary that occurs during the ride home,' Michelle Molina, the district's transportation operations supervisor, wrote in response.

The affidavit filed by Englewood Police details yet another day of abuse.

On February 13, an officer viewed a video that showed Jones hitting Dax in the mouth with a closed fist, poking him in the chin, hitting him with the back of her hand and pulling his hair.

She repeatedly dropped a toy on the ground and held his head down with a hand clamped on his jaw when he bent to reach it.

Vestal has kept record of 15 dates when she discovered fresh injuries. Three of those coincide with footage of Jones' alleged abuse between last September to March of this year.

In the latest instance, Vestal contacted the school and texted Jones immediately after noticing injuries on her son's foot and thigh.

The next day she was told that Jones would be charged with abuse, based on surveillance footage from the school bus.

According to Rathod Mohamedbhai LLC, the law firm representing the families, the Joshua School raised its belief that abuse was occurring on the bus with Littleton Public Schools.

'LPS looked at a single bus ride and determined there was nothing to be concerned about and provided no further monitoring, allowing months of uninterrupted abuse to continue,' a statement from the firm reads.

After Jones' arrest, the Littleton Public Schools released its own statement claiming she was hired in August after 'satisfactory reference checks and after passing a thorough background check.'

'She had very limited access to students during her employment with LPS. She has had no contact with students since March 19, the day her employment was terminated,' the statement asserts. 

The concerned parents have vowed to attend a schoolboard meeting on Thursday to demand changes to safety protocols.

Jones' preliminary hearing is scheduled for May 3.