On February 11, 2020, a 12-year-old boy suffered serious head injuries after he was body-slammed by a school staff member at AMIkids in Pinellas Park. Source.
AMIkids is a school for at-risk youth aged 11 to 15 years old and has 44 different locations, 22 of which are located in Florida. According to police, the student skipped the lunch line, which led a staff member to direct him to a “Room of Opportunity” where the school does testing and computer labs. It was in this room that the staff member, a man weighing around 300-pounds, hoisted the boy up by his waist and slammed him to the ground, according to several other staff members and students.
After being body-slammed, the boy vomited, went in and out of consciousness, cried and asked for his mother. Instead of contacting the student’s mother or calling 911, employees sat undisturbed in a room with the boy for 90 minutes before moving him to another room where he was watched by staff members for another half hour. The student could not stand well on his own and needed assistance walking.
When it came time to leave, school supervisor Jarvis Delon West, 28, accompanied the boy on the school bus and told the bus driver to go directly to the student’s house, which is not normal protocol. Once at the boy’s home, West did not say anything to the boy’s mother, and instead just watched him go inside the house.
The student was kept home from school on February 12 because his mother assumed he had the flu. On February 13, she took her son to John Hopkin’s All Children’s Hospital where she learned that her son had a fractured skull, two subdural hematomas, and a brain bleed.
The boy remains hospitalized in serious condition. West was arrested on February 17 on felony charges of failure to report child neglect and neglect of a child resulting in great bodily harm. Police also expect to arrest the unidentified staff member who body-slammed the student.
Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident. AMIkids has run into issues with staff abuse and neglect at locations nationwide, according to court records and news reports.
It is never easy when your loved one has been the victim of neglect and abuse. The personal injury attorneys at Beltz & Beltz make it our mission to see that our clients are fully compensated for all of their losses. We represent the injured and the families of those who have been injured throughout the state of Florida. If you need a personal injury attorney for your case, contact Beltz & Beltz today.
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