Lawsuit: Teen with Down syndrome was beaten, deprived of food, and locked in a cage

Parents are suing school officials in Kansas, claiming that their teenage son with Down syndrome was tortured and abused by one of his educators, while others knew and did nothing about it.

Albert Bahret was assigned to the 15-year-old boy as a paraprofessional, according to the Daily Mail. In a lawsuit filed by the boy’s parents, Heather and Jeff Bahner, Bahret repeatedly yelled in their son’s face, struck him, choked him with his shirt collar, and more. Also named in the lawsuit were Taylor Hurla, a special education teacher, and Sarah Sanders, director of the district’s special education services program. The abuse took place in the Kaw Valley Unified School District.

The lawsuit alleges that Bahret at times forced the boy, identified only as C.B., into a dark utility closet, which Bahret called the “seclusion closet,” and repeatedly hit him in the face and neck. A photo also leaked of C.B. locked in a cage with athletic equipment, to which Bahret didn’t have the key.

Bahret was also said to disappear for “great lengths of time to unknown locations and for unknown reasons,” and during those periods, C.B. would be left in soiled clothes, and was denied food. Sanders and Hurla allegedly knew about Bahret’s behavior, and “actively participated in defendants’ campaign to hide the unlawful conduct.”

Bahret also is said to have compared C.B. to an animal.

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When questions were raised about how the boy was treated, the school officials shrugged it off as “how you have to handle him.” According to the lawsuit:

Mr. Bahret angrily pulled and shoved C.B. into [the seclusion closet] on more than one occasion. On at least one occasion, Mr. Bahret entered the Seclusion Closet with C.B. and struck C.B. in the neck and/or face. After exiting the Seclusion Closet, C.B. complained ‘Bert,’ ‘hit,’ ‘closet.’

Mr. Bahret aggressively pulled C.B. by his shirt collar and arms when removing him from the classroom to take him to the Seclusion Closet or elsewhere in the building. [He] was seen pulling and yanking C.B. with such force that C.B.’s shirt collar became tightened and obstructed C.B.’s airway. C.B. choked, coughed, gasped for air, and begged Mr. Bahret to stop, but Mr. Bahret did not relent.

The abusive treatment has had a lasting effect on C.B., his parents said. “C.B. quit using his words, and now just stands and drools,” the lawsuit said. “He is terrified of the dark. He rips his hair out, so much so that he has large bald spots on his head.”

All three of the people named in the lawsuit — Bahret, Sanders, and Hurla — are still employed by the school district.

“The Bahners were horrified to learn that C.B. — a particularly vulnerable child, given the extent of his disabilities and that he is only partially verbal — experienced the treatment described in their lawsuit, including placement of C.B. in a locked cage,” Matthew Rogers, an attorney representing the family, said. “The Bahners look forward to prosecuting their case and receiving justice for C.B.”

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