WEST PALM BEACH, Florida – The family of a 19-year-old student with autism will receive $ 2 million in compensation from a Florida school district a year and a half after he choked on a chicken nugget and died.
The agreement approved by the Palm Beach County School Board on Wednesday also establishes a mandatory training program – named in honor of Kedar Williams – for principals, teachers and other employees who work with students with special needs, South Florida reported. Sun Sentinel.
“His parents are satisfied not only with the deal, but they are also very proud of the fact that they fought for their son and fought for a training program designed to address the deficiencies that led to Kedar’s death,” said Sia Baker-Barnes, a lawyer representing her mother, Megan Williams, and property.
Kedar Williams was rushed to a hospital on August 13, 2019, after choking on the chicken nugget at William T. Dwyer High School in Palm Beach Gardens.
Williams had a form of autism that made him almost entirely non-verbal, and he also had a condition that made him prone to aspirate or suffocate, the family said.
An advisor should be assigned only to Williams, said Baker-Barnes. But the video showed that the aide was attending to another student when Williams gasped.
“Having your child say goodbye to you in the morning, before school, and never see you alive again is a mother’s worst nightmare. Our family has a huge hole without Kedar in our lives, ”said his mother, Megan Williams, in a statement.
The boy’s father, Jeffrey Williams, will participate in the deal. He is a professor in Polk County.
“He is around children every day, so this is a reminder of the loss he feels,” Salesia Smith-Gorden, lawyer Jeffrey Williams, told the newspaper.
There is usually a $ 300,000 limit for negligence or liability cases, unless a claim bill is submitted to the Legislature, allowing for a larger payment. But the family filed a lawsuit in the Federal Court, in addition to the State, citing the violation of federal protections for students with disabilities. This allowed them to win a bigger deal without the Legislature.
“While no amount of money can take the pain out of this tragedy, the Palm Beach County School District hopes that the agreement reached with the Williams family will help ease the burden of this tremendous loss,” said district spokeswoman Claudia. Shea in a statement.