Restrained Autistic Student dies on bus

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Student With Autism Dies on School Bus After Altercation The 18-year-old student lost consciousness after being restrained by school employees following an altercation, police said.

Anthony Corona was being restrained by employees of a special needs school.

I bet those evil slime balls feel pretty good about what they did.

This is so strange----the article really doesn't give much detail. How can someone die, from being restrained----can someone die from a panic attack (that's the only thing I can think-of)? I guess if they had heart trouble, maybe? Also, I'm wondering if they stuffed something in his mouth, to shut him up, or something like that----that might be able to cause death (hyper-ventilation from fear).

@CockneyRebel: I can't get over how much that picture of Schultz (avatar) looks like YOU----I did a double-take!!

My guess is, in their attempts to restrain him, they asphyxiated him.

The thing that really irritates me is that the school felt the need to justify what was effectively manslaughter by stating that their staff had "followed guidelines". Of course, I'm sure they did this to try to avoid either a lawsuit or criminal charges against their employees, but it's still a disgusting thing to do.

I don't feel comfortable speculating about the people who killed him, though. There are certainly a lot of awful, messed up people in the world, and unfortunately those people tend to seek positions of authority. But it seems like most people who choose to work with kids do so because they care about kids, and sometimes really horrible mistakes do happen.
I do feel comfortable criticizing the school's protocol for handling a situation like this, though. If people are trained to respond to situations like this with enough force to kill someone, then it indicates some pretty damning things about how the school views the kids they're working with. It's dehumanizing.

Probably because there is a cover up going on.

^^ Yeah, as much as I hate to admit it, I was thinking the same thing.

Years ago I heard a news story on the radio about how thats a thing that happens: violent individuals who are placed in physical restraints for transport by the police often just die while in transit for reasons unknown. He was flipping out on angel dust. And after they subdue him and placed him cuffs, or in a straightjacket, or whatever, they put him in the paddy wagon. When they arrive at the destination and open the back of the paddy wagon they find that he has died in transit for unknown reasons. I missed the end of the story so I dont know if they ever solved the mystery of why the physically restrained die.

This sounds similar to where police use excessive force to restrain young male offenders resulting in cardiac arrest and/or asphyxiation. It does not require the person to have a prior medical condition if the force used in restraining the young male (or female?) is sufficiently excessive due to level of resistance.

In mental health this is a common cause of death for young men with schizophrenia. Excessive restraining force results in an "asystolic cardiac arrest as a result of restraint asphyxia,"

This is likely to be what happened to the 18yr old male - the more violent his resistance to the restraining the more force was applied on him.

The school's message to the parents was dreadful and totally lacking any tact or empathy for their suffering...

Yes, I remember a case where a man died because the police officer who restrained him used an illegal neck grip that caused him to die from asphyxiation.

I suppose the details are not being released because most people would say "What! You used a neck grip on a disabled student? Why did that happen at all?"

The illegal death grip you mention is actually killing people, not because of asphyxiation, but because it's applied to the main arteries in the neck, thus cutting off blood flow to the brain, causing very rapid unconscious. But if held too long the brain dies and you're gone.

It's not stated if the diseased was a small person or someone really big the attendants were afraid of (doesn't make a difference in a correct system), but the important thing to know is cause of death. To speculate without knowing this is foolish.

I thought that's what's mean't by "asystolic cardiac arrest"

^^^^ There may be other names for this but I don't remember anyone saying it had anything to do with the functioning of the heart, although if the brain is dead the heart will stop pumping.

I find the rare condition you mention is described as "hypercapnia or anoxia from hypoventilation during anesthesia" but I would hardly typify the crushing of the neck arteries by police as "anesthesia", unless you're trying to be gruesomely funny (zombie movie style).

There've been cases where a small child, hugging her grandma's neck, caused this to happen. This is why many jurisdictions have made this technique illegal for cops to use. Much too dangerous for these untrained clowns.

The most probable explanation is Positional Asphyxia.

From the UK Police manual:

"Officers and staff should avoid using the prone restraint position unless it is proportionate to the threat and necessary in the circumstances. Officers should keep the period for which it is used to a minimum.

When a detainee is restrained in a prone position, a safety officer should be responsible for monitoring the detainee’s conditions, particularly the airway and response, protecting and supporting the head and neck. That person should lead the team through the physical intervention process and monitor the detainee’s airway and breathing continuously. Care should also be taken not to place pressure on a detainee’s chest or obstruct the airways.

Prolonged restraint and struggling can result in exhaustion, reduced breathing leading to build up of toxic metabolites. This, with underlying medical conditions such as cardiac conditions, drugs use or use of certain antipsychotics, can result in sudden death with little warning. The best management is de-escalation, avoiding prone restraint, restraining for the minimum amount of time, lying the detainee on their side and constant monitoring of vital signs.

Usually there are no outward signs or symptoms of positional asphyxia. An individual may be overtaken so quickly and completely that there are no indications of distress or time to communicate a need for help.!

THIS first technique shown is the one police will publicize. This is because it leaves all sorts of possibilities open to police and coroner. This can be very inconclusive; they like that as it deflects the pointing fingers. This gives them their best possible outcome in a tragic situation.

THE BAR ARM CONTROL
An officer applied the "bar arm" control by reaching one arm around the suspect's neck, placing his forearm across the suspect's throat, grasping that arm's hand with his other hand, and pulling back. The desired effect was to close the suspect's windpipe so that no oxygen got to his lungs, and no oxygenated blood got to his brain.

But this next is the hold they mostly use. The reason for this is simple: When you have someone by the throat and want to subdue them rapidly this hold will directly shut off blood (and of course oxygen) to the brain...no having to wait until the victim stops thrashing around and their blood uses enough oxygen to do the same thing...and just about impossible to prove they did otherwise. TRANSLATION: Victims become unconscious more quickly (and you're just supposed to ignore the unfortunate associated rapid deaths as "accidents."

THE CAROTID CONTROL
An officer applied the "carotid" control by reaching one arm around the suspect's neck, placing his elbow around the front of the neck, grasping that arm's hand with his other hand, and pressing inward. The desired effect was to close the carotid arteries on both sides of the neck so that no oxygenated blood got to the suspect's brain.

There's plenty of sound medical information on the net confirming this.

CBS

It seems pretty clear to me. Corona was fighting and wouldn't stop. He was physically restrained because he was physically fighting with someone. It's a shame that he died. But I think the responsibility rests with Corona.

Autism is not a pass for physical violence.

So are you saying that every time there's a fight that could be attributed to a particular person's starting it that it's OK if someone kills them???? I don't believe anyone else was in danger of being killed by this person's actions.

The method of restraint must be commensurate with the offence: You wouldn't condone someone shooting him for this would you? Of course you wouldn't. The responsibility rests on the person doing the restraining...if they screw up and kill someone unnecessarily they need to answer for it. That's the law.