Autistic student dragged 250 feet, kicked by school employee

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The parents of a Tates Creek Middle School student with autism filed a lawsuit against the Fayette County school officials, alleging that he sustained serious injuries in 2018 when he was dragged 250 feet down hallways, kicked twice by an employee and “unsafely” carried up 19 stairs.

The lawsuit filed Sept. 13 in Fayette Circuit Court in Lexington by Courtney Jo Grayson and Donnie Jack Grayson Jr. said the child, identified in the lawsuit only as “T.G.,” was a special needs student, “relatively non-verbal” and “cognitively altered.”

Defendants include two people who worked at Tates Creek Middle School, the Fayette County Board of Education, Superintendent Manny Caulk and Tates Creek Middle principal Eric Thornsbury.

The lawsuit said that as a result of the Sept. 18, 2018, dragging, T.G. was seriously injured physically and mentally. He had injuries to his stomach, back and left shoulder.

The lawsuit alleges that the school did not adequately train staff on appropriate supervision of students, including those with special needs.

The lawsuit said that another person working at the school that day failed to intervene and prevent the actions. The lawsuit and the parent’s attorney Tyler S. Stewart did not identify the former workers’ specific positions..

Sandra Spurgeon, the lawyer representing the staff member accused of dragging the child, said Tuesday, the woman ”will be fully vindicated when all the facts and the evidence are presented to the court. Because this matter involves a child, ... we do not believe that we should comment or discuss this matter any further.”

Jo Grayson told the Herald-Leader in October 2018 that on the day of the incident that her son was extremely tired after a morning of speech therapy and instruction and refused to get up off the gym floor.

Fayette County Public Schools spokeswoman Lisa Deffendall told the Herald-Leader last year that the staff member shown dragging the child in a video was no longer employed by the school district. The Herald-Leader is not yet naming the school staff members after counsel for one of them said the woman was threatened after previous media coverage.

The lawsuit is asking for punitive and compensatory damages, including medical expenses.