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Attorney: Boy traumatized by bus incident
CHESAPEAKE, Ohio -- An attorney representing the family of a 10-year-old Chesapeake boy say the boy was traumatized by an incident on a bus earlier this month. The attorney plans to ask school authorities to resolve the issue.
The family says the boy got off a Lawrence County Board of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities bus without any clothes.
Ken Meyers, a lawyer from Cleveland, met with the boy's family Thursday in the Chesapeake area. While no formal complaint has been filed with the Open Door School, which the boy attends, or the Chesapeake school district, Meyers said he plans to write letters soon to school and MRDD officials.
"It has to be addressed immediately," Meyers said. "(The boy) is traumatized. He's been out of school for a week. This needs to be resolved in an expeditious manner."
The child is autistic, has cerebral palsy and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, Meyers said. "He's severely disabled, but he also has a lot of potential."
The boy was on the MRDD bus Aug. 15 with between five and 10 mentally challenged adults. A bus driver looked for the boy's clothes when it was time for him to get off the bus, but the clothes apparently had been thrown out the bus window, Meyers said.
"We don't know what happened," he said. "No one was able to explain what happened. This isn't the first time this has happened. There was a similar incident last spring. We don't know if he was molested. There should have been an aide on that bus. And what's a 10-year-old boy doing on a bus with adults? There should be a separate bus."
"Presumably he had clothes on when he got on the bus," said Meyers, who is the parent of a special needs child. "Some neighbors saw him when he got off the bus."
Paul Mollett, superintendent of the MRDD board, said he's prohibited by law from discussing the incident on the bus. "Because of privacy issues, I can't talk about any particular student.
"We'll look into any complaint or credible allegation that affects the health or safety of our students," he said.
Adults and children do, at times, ride on the same bus, Mollett said. The board has been following state protocols which permit it, he said.
