Lawsuit Filed Against School District, Security Guard for Choking Kindergartener

Civil Rights 05/28/2020bhorwitz

In February 2020, The Blake Horwitz Law Firm filed a lawsuit against Dolton School District 149 after one of its private security guards choked and slammed a kindergarten student at Caroline Sibley Elementary School in Calumet City. According to the Chicago Tribune, this is the second lawsuit in the past two year filed against the school district for its security guards being violent towards its students.

As originally reported in another article by the Chicago Tribune, the student was walking in the hallway at school one day when a security guard asked him for his hall pass. When the student didn’t display one, the security guard suddenly got violent. Without provocation, he picked the student up and slammed him onto a table. He then started choking the child with both hands around his neck. The student needed to go to the hospital for x-rays to determine if he had broken any bones. Thankfully, he did not; however, he suffered significant bruising to his neck and back as well as lasting emotional and psychological trauma.

Since the incident, the student’s mother has filed a police report with the local police department. To further seek accountability for her child’s abuse at the hands of someone meant to protect him, she also contacted the firm, which promptly filed a 7-count complaint against both the school district and the security guard in federal court.

If you or someone you know share a similar story, contact The Blake Horwitz Law Firm at (312) 676-2100 or office@bhlfattorneys.com.

Read more about this case below:

  • Chicago Tribune, “Lawsuit alleges Dolton School District 149 security guard slammed kindergarten student on table, squeezed neck with both hands”
  • Chicago Tribune, “Parent settles lawsuit with Dolton school district over son’s alleged abuse by security guard, lawyer says”