NEW ORLEANS, April 12 (UPI) -- The mother of a second-grader at a New Orleans charter school has filed a lawsuit against the school, alleging her son was mistreated by school officials.
Fannie C. Williams Charter School administrators, the state-run Recovery School District, New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu and Police Superintendent Ronal Serpas are named in the lawsuit filed by Chanell Thomas last week in Civil District Court related to an incident last year, The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune reported.
The lawsuit claims Kelly Batiste, the school's chief executive, and Terri Williams, the chief academic officer, tried to lock Thomas' 7-year-old son, a special needs student, in a closet after he allegedly misbehaved. The boy tried to run, the lawsuit states, and Williams hit him with a flyswatter, then had the school's two security guards hold him down.
"These actions were taken despite the fact that these individuals knew or should have known" the boy "was easily frightened and did not like to be touched," the lawsuit reads.
School officials called police and two officers "shoved" the child, "held him with excessive force" before handcuffing him with his hands behind his back, the lawsuit states.
Thomas is seeking an unspecified sum in damages for the incident.
In 2010, Thomas joined a class-action lawsuit against Louisiana that alleged discrimination against students with disabilities on behalf of 10 special needs students.
