Father sues over face-down restraint of autistic boy

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Ocean View School District, teachers named in suit claiming boy's broken nose, emotional wounds.

By ANNIE BURRIS
The Orange County Register

HUNTINGTON BEACH The father of an 8-year-old autistic child has filed suit against the Ocean View School District, two teachers and the city, claiming that a restraint technique used on the boy resulted in emotional and physical damage.

Robert Velasquez alleges negligence, civil rights violations and false imprisonment in the suit, filed in Orange County Superior Court. He also claims the teachers did not have the proper training to use the "prone restraint'' on his son in the Sept. 6 incident.

Former Lake View Elementary School teacher Gina Messig and assistant teacher Mai Vo used a prone restraint to control the boy, a special education student, when he started throwing objects in the classroom and hitting teachers, a school report said.

Velasquez said his child had scratches, bruises and a broken nose after the incident.

District officials said all of the special education teachers are trained adequately for their jobs. They declined to comment on the lawsuit. Messig and Vo could not be reached for comment. City officials said they anticipate being dismissed from the case.

Velasquez said his son has been agitated and had trouble sleeping because of nightmares since the incident.

"He is never going to be my baby like he was," he said. "No child deserves prone restraint."

Prone restraint – which means the person is held face down – is rarely used and is usually the last resort to control a child, experts say.

According to a report by Messig, the boy, then 7, was running in his classroom, trying to escape out the door and attempting to knock over a wheelchair. The boy then grabbed a girl by the hair and pulled her to the ground, Messig wrote.

The teachers tried to calm the boy and eventually dismissed the rest of the children from the classroom to play outside, the report said.

Velasquez said his son continues to go to Lake View but works with a new teacher. He said he has been trying to get his son transferred to the Speech and Language Development Center in Buena Park and is waiting to hear back from the school on whether the switch is approved.

He is asking for least $25,000, according to the suit filed last month. Velasquez also told The Register he would like to see cameras put in special education classes to prevent similar situations.

A bill proposed by state Senator Sheila Kuehl from Los Angeles and Ventura counties that limits physical restraint techniques is set to go before a committee on Wednesday. The bill would require teachers to "avoid the deliberate use of prone restraint techniques whenever possible.''

Contact the writer: aburris@ocregister.com or 714-445-6696