Suit: Autistic student handcuffed in school for disabled

Scroll to the bottom of this story to read Kevin House's lawsuit against West Clermont Schools.

AMELIA – Kevin House clutches Bowser, a small stuffed turtle, as he talks about the day he said his teacher and a school resource police officer forced him on his belly on his classroom floor, handcuffed him and kept him there for 30 minutes.

Bowser protects him now, said the 20-year man who is autistic and also suffers from epilepsy.

Kevin, who has an IQ of 46, needs to be protected, he said, because he thinks his teacher and the police are at war with him. This, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati, which accuses the West Clermont Local School District and Union Township of violating Kevin's constitutional rights and Ohio law.

"I thought they were going to kill me," Kevin said at the Amelia home he shares with his mom, Debbie, and dad, Rodney. "It felt like that."

Officials from the school district and the township declined comment Thursday, saying they had not seen the lawsuit.

The lawsuit is the second time in recent weeks local officials have been sued for allegedly using handcuffs on disabled children at school. Last month, a video showed an 8-year-old Kenton County, Kentucky, school boy crying and kicking with his hands behind his back and cuffed above the elbows. The boy in that case has Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

That video made national headlines, sparked conversation about the training of police officers assigned to schools and refocused attention on the use of handcuffs on children who act out in school. Experts say the use of restraints on children are not uncommon and are even more common with kids with disabilities.

The allegations in the House lawsuit are eerily similar and equally disturbing, said House's lawyer, Richard Ganulin.

"Kevin was entrusted to the care of government officials who promised to properly care for and educate him," he said. "Those government police officers and educators breached that fiduciary duty to Kevin."

His mom is more pointed: "This is a system I totally entrusted with my son and they stood by and watched this happen ... actually they assisted in it happening," Debbie House said. "No one stopped this. No one said this is not legal."

House said she still isn't exactly sure what happened at West Clermont's Aspire Academy on Sept. 11, 2014. The school is a transitional program aimed at helping children with disabilities learn daily living and work skills. Kevin had just started his fourth week at the new school last fall, she said.

The lawsuit alleges Kevin became upset when his ear buds broke. He started to shout, throw objects, hit school personnel and tried to bite them when they attempted to restrain him. The suit says about eight adults entered the room. A fairly chaotic scene ensued. Two people tried to hold Kevin and, ultimately, school resource officer Steven Siekbert was called to help. Siekbert is an officer with the Union Township Police Department who serves as a resource officer at the school.

Siekbert along with Tom Robinson, Kevin's teacher, and Robert Hatfield, the assistant principal of Glen Este High School, eventually got Kevin to the floor and handcuffed him, the suit alleges. Hatfield then placed a pillow under his head "further (increasing) the risk of Kevin becoming asphyxiated."

The suit names Union Township, West Clermont Local Schools as well as Siekbert, Robinson and Hatfield individually as defendants.

Ken Geis, Union Township Administrator, said a reporter's phone call was the first he knew of the suit: "I don't know anything about. And we would not have anything to say until we talk to our law director,'' he said, adding that the township generally does not comment on pending litigation except to answer allegations in court filings.

Debbie Alberico, spokeswoman for the school district, said she, too, was unaware of the suit.

In 2009, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan called upon states to review and amend policies on using physical restraints on students. In 2013, the State Board of Education approved a change in state code prohibiting prone and mechanical restraint.

According to the suit, the school district adopted the state code.

Kevin's behavior was no surprise to Debbie House. It had been clearly documented for years with the school district, which he attended for 16 years before graduating from in 2014.

House said the school had an Individual Education Plan on file as well as a detailed crisis plan that outlined exactly how teachers and others should respond to de-escalate such outbursts with Kevin. In fact, the suit said, the plan said that the use of a Crisis Prevention Institute hold "should only be used as a last resort."

And that type of hold, Debbie House said, does not involve the use of handcuffs or prone restraint.

The crisis plan is so detailed it instructs school personnel to help him cool down after an outburst, provide him a cool drink of water and requires staff to "give Kevin the option to swing until he has completely calmed down and is able to return to the classroom."

None of that was done, Debbie House said. And she wonders if Officer Siekbert knew the specifics of Kevin's crisis plan or was adequately trained to deal with his disabilities.

Kevin now suffers from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, complete with flashbacks and nightmares, since the incident, his mom said. His medications have been increased as have his trips to his Children's Hospital Medical Center psychiatrist.

That doctor is quoted in the lawsuit: "I have personally witnessed him recoiling when he is in our lobby and a security officer walks past, in which case he will grab and hug his mother.

"This represents a definite change from his previous behavior ... We are trying to provide medication treatment for this, but the symptoms persist and worsen at times," the doctor is quoted as saying in the suit.

Debbie said she doubts Kevin will ever return to where he was last summer, after he was honored to be part of the 2014 Amelia High School Prom Court, when he was making positive strides, when he didn't need the security of stuffed animals and when she was confident that he would be able to care for himself in some capacity.

Kevin doesn't really understand the purpose of the lawsuit. But he's adamant he doesn't want to go back to the Aspire Academy. He and his mom say he is happy at the Clermont County Board of Developmental Disabilities Thomas A. Wildey Center.

The suit asks the court to order the school to cease using handcuffs or prone restraint on any other children and to follow the terms of students' behavior plans. It also asks to award House compensatory damages and to provide him an ongoing education.

Debbie House said filing the lawsuit is not about money. It's about doing the right thing.

"It's for justice," she said. "It's for the people who can't speak for themselves."