A shoving match in a Staten Island high school gym class has ended with a lawsuit against the city Department of Education.
Parents of Brian Shane, a mildly autistic student from New Springville, say an assistant dean of South Richmond High School broke their son's leg in two places as he tried to restrain the teenager during a fight with classmates.
"I don't think he should be allowed around any other child ever again," said Mary Shane, speaking of the school administrator, who hasn't been identified.
The 15-year-old sophomore is now recovering in bed. His mother says her son was playing wiffle ball in the school gymnasium Monday when a bully started slapping him.
"This child was slapping my son in the face and my son was just about to hit back."
That's when the school's assistant dean allegedly tried to restrain the autistic student.
"There's no reason that even restraining a child should cause injury to a human being," said the student's father, David Shane.
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Shane described the assistant dean's maneuver as something out of the Ultimate Fighting Championship league, where the administrator curled his leg around the teen's leg, wrapped his arms around the teen's chest, and then pulled the student to the ground.
The Department of Education would not comment on the incident except to say it is under investigation.
The Shanes have filed a $5 million personal injury lawsuit against the city.
South Richmond High School caters to several groups of students with special needs, some of them more physically unruly than others. Mary Shane says she has repeatedly asked her son be transferred from the school because he has been bullied by problem students for months.
Now that Brian Shane is unable to walk, his parents say the Department of Education has agreed to pay for home schooling.
