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Renner-Lewis Family Sues School Over Son's
Restraint Death
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
January 2, 2004
KALAMAZOO, MICHIGAN--Last week, the family of
Michael Renner-Lewis III filed a $25 million "wrongful death" lawsuit
against officials and employees of the school where he died this summer.
According to local media reports, the suit is
against the Parchment School District, Kalamazoo Regional Educational
Service Agency and several employees, including the principal. Family
lawyers allege that the 15-year-old, who had autism, died because he
could not breath while staff members had him pinned to the ground on his
stomach.
When Michael became "agitated" in the early
afternoon of the first day of school, August 25, at least four staff
members "tried to quiet" him by holding him face-down on the floor. A
family caregiver who arrived at the school to take Michael home found
him unconscious. She started giving Michael CPR, but was too late to
revive him.
An initial autopsy report showed "no obvious
anatomical causes" of death. His death was ruled an accident, and no
criminal charges were filed.
The final autopsy report listed the cause of his
death as "prolonged physical restraint in prone position associated with
extreme mental and motor agitation." Dr. Richard Tooker, Kalamazoo
County chief medical examiner, said a contributing factor in Michael's
death was an "underlying heart abnormality."
"A combination of the restraint and the underlying
heart ailment was, unfortunately, a fatal combination," Tooker said.
The suit claims that the 6-foot, 165-pound teen had
fainted and that school officials did not know how to handle the
situation so they forced him to the ground on his stomach for at least
one hour.
"I think it's clear that this is what happened in
this case," said family attorney Paul Broschay. "Michael didn't just sit
on the floor and die. He was held down to the floor by several people.
If that's not a homicide, I don't know what is."
"You don't keep someone face down on their gut with
a knee in their back for an hour," Broschay added. "Animals are treated
better than that."
Broschay is with the law firm headed by Geoffrey
Fieger, the personal-injury attorney that represented "assisted suicide"
promoter Dr. Jack Kevorkian.
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