Justice for Brayden: Support His Legal Battle

On April 17th, at Robert L. Crippen Elementary School, my son Brayden was violently assaulted and tormented by 3 special education teachers and one district behavior paraprofessional for approximately 2 hours at school. Video footage from this incident shows staff members taunting him to get him escalated, pinning him against a wall, stomping on his feet, torso, head, and other body parts, standing on his fingers, scratching him, kicking him, pulling his hair, dragging him across the room and violently dropping him on the tiled floor, pulling a pillow out from under his head, contorting him with his legs up by his head to the point he believed his leg would break, restraining him on the floor while trying to shout that he cannot breathe, barricading him in a room with no lights on and physically and psychologically torturing him while appearing to be recording the incident on their phones. Any attempt Brayden made to calm himself down was met with more torment that is clearly visible on the video footage. During one prolonged restraint, Brayden was heard screaming "help me" over and over and indicated that he could not breathe.

This all happened on film, and not one of the staff at Robert L. Crippen Elementary School took note, asked any questions, or attempted to intervene. When I asked the administration if my son had ever been restrained at school I was assured that he had never been restrained and these staff members actively lied about their actions. We had to fight the school tooth and nail to even be allowed to see the video and to this day have received no clear explanation of what happened or why.

This has been a really tough year for him despite our family fighting to ensure he has access to a free and appropriate public education. We believe that he has been denied FAPE this school year and that April 17 was not the first instance of this abuse. His grades and mental health have suffered as a result of this mistreatment. Please consider helping our family as we embark on this legal journey to ensure Brayden is able to get back on track academically, get the appropriate behavioral help he was entitled to in the first place and was denied, to ensure that everyone involved and who knew about this is brought to justice, and to help ensure this is never allowed to happen to any child at this or any school ever again.

All funds will go directly to legal fees associated with pursuing Brayden's case.