Buses are
dangerous places for
autistic youths. Two years ago, Kenneth Pierre-Louis, an 18-year-old with autism, died in a Miami-Dade County public school bus.
The Miami Herald recently reported:
Pierre-Louis’ family sued the county school board this week, saying that their loved one was left in his seat — seizing, covered in urine and in the throes of a heart attack — for 15 minutes before any of the four adults on the bus came to help.
According to the lawsuit, he died without any medical attention from employees because the young man, due to his handicap, had recently attacked one of the employees on the bus.
A bus driver and aide gave Miami-Dade police a different version. They said that Pierre-Louis began to seize as they pulled up to his house, and that 911 was called right away.
Through a district spokeswoman, School Board Attorney Walter Harvey declined to comment Friday.
...
Paramedics noted in their report that witnesses said Pierre-Louis started seizing 15 minutes before they arrived.
[Gregg] Schwartz, the family’s attorney, said there were problems with the police investigation into the young man’s death. Only two of the adults on the bus that day have been interviewed by police, he said. Schwartz only discovered there were more witnesses after speaking with Pierre-Louis’ mother and requesting public records from the school board, he said.
“A kid died on the bus. You would think police would talk to all of them,” Schwartz said.
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/education/article2262531.html#storylink=cpy
