Investigators have found no misconduct in the death of an autistic student who choked and died in a Brooklyn school last year.
A probe opened by the district’s Special Commissioner of Investigation found no wrongdoing by any school employee in the death of 21-year-old Dyasha Smith, who choked on something at P.S. 368 last October.
“SCI has determined that no DOE employee was at fault in connection with the tragic death of Dyasha Smith,” Commissioner Richard Condon said in a report released Monday.
Several employees told investigators that Smith was acting out before she choked, and that several teachers were on hand to assist her. A school nurse was also called to administer the Heimlich maneuver.
Afterward, according to the report, the school called school safety officers and contacted an ambulance. EMTs tried unsuccessfully to resuscitate the then-unconscious student, and school officials contacted her mother.
Several teachers and professionals allegedly told investigators that Smith had choked on a corn muffin that had been kept in a cabinet that was normally locked but had been broken by the 21-year-old student in the weeks before her death.
The investigators found no evidence to confirm that it was a muffin that Smith had choked on or if it had come from the cabinet with the broken lock.
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The report comes months after Smith’s mother and relatives announced they were planning to sue the school district to spur closer supervision of special-needs students.
The status of the planned suit is unclear.
