Award-winning teacher secretly filmed 'kneeing special needs child in the back'

The 71-year-old won the Tift County Excellence in Teaching award in 2014

A teacher with more than 20 years of experience has resigned after footage emerged of her knocking over a special needs student at her school.

Amelia Stripling, a teacher at Tift County Pre-K Center in Georgia, appears to deliberately shove the four-year-old student in the back with her knee, knocking him to the ground.

The 71-year-old, a winner of the Tift County Excellence in Teaching award in 2014, resigned from her job earlier this month. Ms Stripling turned herself into Tifton police on Friday, after warrants were issued for her arrest, according to KTLA.

The child was not seriously hurt in the incident, Tift County school officials said.

Sarah Patterson, the boy's mother, said her son has special needs requirement and that the family has obtained a lawyer.

Stripling's teacher page has since been removed from the website of Tift County Pre-K Center.

The matter is being investigated by the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services.