Politics & Government
Lawsuit Claiming Disabled Girl Made to Clean Up Blood Dismissed
The parents claim their daughter also was subject to threats to lock her in the bathroom.
According to a Patch story at the time the lawsuit was filed:
Jada, now 16, is “physically and mentally handicapped with cerebral palsy, has “the mental capacity of an 8-year-old,” is “bound to a wheelchair outside of the home,” is “required to wear a diaper while at school,” is “legally blind in her left eye” and “requires a personal assistant ... while attending life skills education classes at school,” the lawsuit said.
In February 2013, Jada “needed her menstrual pad and diaper changed with the assistance of paraprofessional” Susan Krueger, the lawsuit said. The suit identified Krueger as a Bolingbrook High School “teacher or teacher’s aide.”
Krueger and another teacher or teacher’s aide, Melissa Soncek, “assisted Jada in the washroom and helped her change out of a soiled menstrual pad and diaper and assisted in her putting on a new menstrual pad and diaper,” the suit said.
After they left the restroom, a third teacher or teacher’s aide, Lauren Hughes, “informed Jada she had made a mess in the washroom, that she left tissue paper in and around the toilet, that she left blood in and around the toilet, and that she was required to clean up both the tissue paper and blood,” the lawsuit said.
Hughes “then physically threatened the wheelchair-bound mentally and physically disabled minor that she would ‘lock her in the bathroom if she ran over another person’s foot with her wheelchair,’” the suit said.
The Chicago Tribune reports that Judge Roger Rickmon sided with the defense’s claim that “the actions of the three staffers were protected under Illinois’ Local Governmental and Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act.” The Tort Immunity Act protects public entities and employees from the liability that stems from government operations.
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