From Tracey McGinnis:This is my 7 year old son. He came home from his special needs school Monday May 21, 2012 nearly strangling to death by the butterfly harness on his wheelchair because someone either at the school or on the bus put it on very incorrectly. He was struggling to breath, turning blue, and had petecheia on his face from the strain. He is severely disabled, nonverbal, medically fragile. He had to have a CT scan the following day due to swallowing issues and has been in pain the past few days. The police are investigating the matter but the detective told me yesterday that I should prepare myself for nothing to happen, no criminal charges to be filed, no personnel to lose their job. Yet, he admits that 10 more minutes and my son would probably have died! I am beside myself with all of this. I nearly lost my precious boy due to someones careless and very dangerous mistake (that is assuming it was not intentional). Isn't this neglect? Child endangerment? What would you do? Any suggestions? Any advice to help this matter see the justice deserved? Thank you.
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| Brendan's neck after almost strangling due to improper placement of HIS wheelchair straps by a classroom aid. |
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| This is the Butterfly Harness as it should be positioned. The "U" was tightened around his neck when he arrived home from school. |
This is a link to the site that explains Brendan's condition.
May 22, 2012- Well, finally home after a long day at the Children's hospital. Brendan is now resting and the ibuprofen seems to be helping his pain. I spoke to the police officer who took my report today. He interviewed everyone at the school who worked with Brendan yesterday. It was a para (classroom aid) that last put him in his wheelchair and got him on the bus. She told the police that he was buckled in properly. Obviously he was NOT! So, it now goes to a detective with the crimes against children unit. I am just waiting to hear from them. I don't know how they will get to the truth of this terrible situation when everyone at the school is saying everything was done correctly, but they have to! This cannot be just left to go unanswered and the responsible party needs to be held accountable and punished legally. I am exhausted, but that's kind of par for the course these days.
As of May 23 this is an update: "Still having issues swallowing. The ER doc yesterday said his throat has soft tissue damage so is sore and swollen. He's tired and sleeping more than normally"
Thank you Tracy for letting me share this...
Thank you for your blog.
ReplyDeleteThis lack of compassion, lack of caring and subhuman treatment of children that have hurt nobody but who's only crime is that they are more helpless and innocent than the "normal children" is appalling.
A normal child injured at school results in severe consequences to the school. The children are their responsibility when in their care, period. No individual culprit needs to be identified, the school is responsible for these children's well being. This is not a situation where the child has nobody responsible for his/her welfare. The government could not sell that concept to the population, and neither the school nor ignorant policemen should not be allowed to pretend that is the case. If an otherwise healthy child got hit by a baseball and injured severely, the school would be held responsible, even if no culprit" could be found.