Suit alleges abuse of autistic child on school bus
Video
Photos
Alleged assault on Bedford school bus (no audio) (Added: October 05, 2011)
Surveillance video shows the bus driver and an assistant hit and kick 11-year-old Timothy Earl Kilpatrick, a severely autistic student who is strapped to his seat. (more)
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Published: October 06, 2011
Published: October 06, 2011
A Bedford County school bus driver and her assistant
repeatedly physically abused an 11-year-old autistic student, causing
him lasting emotional harm and physical injuries, a suit seeking $20 million alleges.
In graphic videos taken by a surveillance camera on a Bedford County school bus, the driver or her assistant can be seen hitting the frightened student with a fly swatter as well as kicking, choking and beating him with their hands.
The student, whose autism left him barely able to speak, was strapped with double harnesses to his seat. He appears to be crying in anguish and at times flails out with his arms and legs trying to stop his assailants or strike them back.
The video footage was secured by attorneys representing single parent Thomas E. Kilpatrick of Bedford, whose son, Timothy, was the target of the attacks. The incidents occurred in September 2009 and were eventually documented in surveillance videos confiscated by police.
Kilpatrick, though, said he had brought concerns to school officials nearly a year earlier after his son started showing signs of injuries and fears about riding the bus. Tapes of incidents during that time could not be located, according to the suit.
The father said Wednesday during a phone interview that he was unable to get school personnel to respond to concerns that his son was being harmed when he first reported in November 2008 that Timothy was coming home with bruises and scratch marks on his arms and face.
"He ran inside the house and went to his room and wouldn't show me what was wrong," his father said. "He would just stare straight ahead. There was no talking," said Kilpatrick, a construction worker who now takes his son back and forth to a regional Lynchburg school that specializes in teaching disabled children.
"This case is about the expectations that every parent should have regarding the treatment and safety of their children in our schools," said Roanoke attorney P. Brent Brown, the lawyer representing Kilpatrick and his son. "That expectation is especially critical when it comes to how disabled children are treated outside the protection and care of their parents."
Kilpatrick, 47, said he was too angered by the video to watch it in its entirety, but even the portion that he watched confirmed his worst fears.
Timothy, who is less than 6 feet tall but weighs 270 pounds, has grown in the two years since the video was recorded, when he weighed less than 200 pounds. There are few people the father trusts with his son, he said, and over the years he has learned how to calm his son's behavior by quietly talking with him.
The suit, filed in Lynchburg Circuit Court on Tuesday, represents a rare instance in which direct, visual evidence of apparently unprovoked physical harm against a student can be seen. "Getting that video evidence was significant," Brown said, noting that Lynchburg police recovered the footage during a criminal investigation of the incidents.
Brown said he obtained the footage through a Freedom of Information Act request to police.
It was not clear Wednesday whether criminal charges were brought against the school bus driver, Alice Davis Holland, and an assistant, Mary Alice Evans, neither of whom has been employed by Bedford County Public Schools since Sept. 30, 2009, according to school system spokesman Ryan Edwards. D. Patrick Lacy Jr., who represents the school system, said Wednesday that the suit has not been served and that he could not comment on its allegations.
The case also has been joined by the Virginia Office for Protection and Advocacy, an independent state agency tasked with overseeing the rights of the disabled.
The school system and its agents, the suit alleges, "denied Timothy his liberty, by restraining him and subjecting him to grossly abusive injurious supervision" and violated the Virginians with Disabilities Act.
The suit does not seek remedies for educational lapses but addresses "grievous and permanent noneducational physical and psychological injuries that will incur medical and mental-health bills in an attempt to treat his injuries."
The 43-page suit was filed in Lynchburg because the allegations deal with conduct of the school system and other people at a point when Kilpatrick was aboard the bus and within the Lynchburg city limits on his way to Laurel Regional Special Education Center in the city.
In addition to the Bedford County School Board and the two adults on the bus, the suit names as a defendant Sara Staton, the school system's director of special services.
The suit alleges that the School Board and school employees had a legal duty under the Virginians with Disabilities Act to provide Timothy "with full and equal access to and enjoyment of" benefits of the transportation system "without fearing or facing threats to his physical or psychological safety or well-being."
Administrators failed to properly train bus personnel in how to deal with Timothy's disabilities and to reasonably ensure his safety, the suit alleges.
In graphic videos taken by a surveillance camera on a Bedford County school bus, the driver or her assistant can be seen hitting the frightened student with a fly swatter as well as kicking, choking and beating him with their hands.
The student, whose autism left him barely able to speak, was strapped with double harnesses to his seat. He appears to be crying in anguish and at times flails out with his arms and legs trying to stop his assailants or strike them back.
The video footage was secured by attorneys representing single parent Thomas E. Kilpatrick of Bedford, whose son, Timothy, was the target of the attacks. The incidents occurred in September 2009 and were eventually documented in surveillance videos confiscated by police.
Kilpatrick, though, said he had brought concerns to school officials nearly a year earlier after his son started showing signs of injuries and fears about riding the bus. Tapes of incidents during that time could not be located, according to the suit.
The father said Wednesday during a phone interview that he was unable to get school personnel to respond to concerns that his son was being harmed when he first reported in November 2008 that Timothy was coming home with bruises and scratch marks on his arms and face.
"He ran inside the house and went to his room and wouldn't show me what was wrong," his father said. "He would just stare straight ahead. There was no talking," said Kilpatrick, a construction worker who now takes his son back and forth to a regional Lynchburg school that specializes in teaching disabled children.
"This case is about the expectations that every parent should have regarding the treatment and safety of their children in our schools," said Roanoke attorney P. Brent Brown, the lawyer representing Kilpatrick and his son. "That expectation is especially critical when it comes to how disabled children are treated outside the protection and care of their parents."
Kilpatrick, 47, said he was too angered by the video to watch it in its entirety, but even the portion that he watched confirmed his worst fears.
Timothy, who is less than 6 feet tall but weighs 270 pounds, has grown in the two years since the video was recorded, when he weighed less than 200 pounds. There are few people the father trusts with his son, he said, and over the years he has learned how to calm his son's behavior by quietly talking with him.
The suit, filed in Lynchburg Circuit Court on Tuesday, represents a rare instance in which direct, visual evidence of apparently unprovoked physical harm against a student can be seen. "Getting that video evidence was significant," Brown said, noting that Lynchburg police recovered the footage during a criminal investigation of the incidents.
Brown said he obtained the footage through a Freedom of Information Act request to police.
It was not clear Wednesday whether criminal charges were brought against the school bus driver, Alice Davis Holland, and an assistant, Mary Alice Evans, neither of whom has been employed by Bedford County Public Schools since Sept. 30, 2009, according to school system spokesman Ryan Edwards. D. Patrick Lacy Jr., who represents the school system, said Wednesday that the suit has not been served and that he could not comment on its allegations.
The case also has been joined by the Virginia Office for Protection and Advocacy, an independent state agency tasked with overseeing the rights of the disabled.
The school system and its agents, the suit alleges, "denied Timothy his liberty, by restraining him and subjecting him to grossly abusive injurious supervision" and violated the Virginians with Disabilities Act.
The suit does not seek remedies for educational lapses but addresses "grievous and permanent noneducational physical and psychological injuries that will incur medical and mental-health bills in an attempt to treat his injuries."
The 43-page suit was filed in Lynchburg because the allegations deal with conduct of the school system and other people at a point when Kilpatrick was aboard the bus and within the Lynchburg city limits on his way to Laurel Regional Special Education Center in the city.
In addition to the Bedford County School Board and the two adults on the bus, the suit names as a defendant Sara Staton, the school system's director of special services.
The suit alleges that the School Board and school employees had a legal duty under the Virginians with Disabilities Act to provide Timothy "with full and equal access to and enjoyment of" benefits of the transportation system "without fearing or facing threats to his physical or psychological safety or well-being."
Administrators failed to properly train bus personnel in how to deal with Timothy's disabilities and to reasonably ensure his safety, the suit alleges.
bmckelway@timesdispatch.com (804) 649-6601
As always, please consult with a Virginia attorney about legal issues raised in this article. Every situation is unique.
Tucker Griffin Barnes - Where deep insight equals powerful advantage.
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As always, please consult with a Virginia attorney about legal issues raised in this article. Every situation is unique.
Tucker Griffin Barnes - Where deep insight equals powerful advantage.
Tucker Griffin Barnes P.C.
Charlottesville, Virginia
434-973-7474
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