A concerned mother has filed a lawsuit against the Clark County School District for allegedly failing to protect her 10-year-old autistic son who was attacked by a special ed aide while at school.
According to the lawsuit, the Clark County School District became aware of an incident involving the special aide, Alicia Fletcher, and the 10-year-old boy, but they declined to pursue criminal charges against her. Reports show that Fletcher and the 10-year-old were outside near Red Rock Elementary School’s jungle gym on April 24th. The child allegedly grabbed a handful of dirt from a nearby planter and threw it towards Fletcher.
At that point, an unidentified staff member directed the autistic 10-year-old to go play closer to the jungle gym where the other children were playing. A short time later, the young boy returned to the planter again and repeated his previous action. He grabbed dirt from the planter and threw it towards Fletcher.
At that point, the special ed aide allegedly became enraged. According to the lawsuit, she grabbed dirt from the planter and then threw it at the youngster. She took things a step further by “forcefully” grabbing the boy’s arm and rubbing the dirt into his hair. The complaint goes on to say that an unidentified student aide attempted to talk to Fletcher while she was grabbing the boy, but Fletcher told the aide that the boy needed to know that she was willing to “stick through this.” At that point, the aide walked away despite the boy being in visible discomfort and attempting to get away.
As the 10-year-old struggled to break free, Fletcher allegedly pulled him toward her, grabbed his leg, and body slammed him into the planter. A nearby teacher, Heidi Hunter, noticed the scene and approached Fletcher. Fletcher told Hunter that everything was okay, but that clearly wasn’t the case since the boy was struggling to pull away. According to the complaint, Hunter did not make an effort to stop Fletcher and didn’t report the incident to superiors, either.
As Hunter walked away, Fletcher reportedly threw the boy to the ground, took off his shoes, and pinned him to the asphalt. Other students joined in on the bullying and began kicking the boy and throwing his shoes at him. A campus security monitor, Deonte Harris, approached Fletcher as children still continued to kick the boy. Eventually, as Harris spoke to Fletcher, she released the boy. The adults walked away while the autistic youngster sat alone near the planter, crying and in visible distress. Later, visible bruising appeared on the boy’s face, which ultimately led to reporting the incident.
The mother and son are seeking $15,000 in general and compensatory damages and an additional $15,000 in special damages.
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