Child Injury Lawyer Blog
By David Wolf, Attorney
Published by Child Injury Lawyer Network
Schoolyard fights and brawls have been around since there have been schoolyards. Technology and the Internet are increasingly being used to video / document schoolyard fights. Many children think it is cool to see their fight online and to show the world online their fight skills and the harm done to other children. Websites including You Tube show hits or the popularity of the video clip which encourages some children to fight and post more. A website dedicated to children safety called wiredsafety.com notes that schoolyard fights posted online and on You Tube are a problem.
A Masuk of Monroe, CT school bus, carrying its high caliber football team was struck by a pick-up truck that failed to yield the right of way. The collision caused serious injuries to the pick-up’s driver, but the players had no immediate complaints of injuries during on-scene evaluations. It remains to be seen as to whether the players, students at Masuk High School in Monroe, CT will feel the effects of that bus versus truck accident in the days to come, as is often the case in motor vehicle accidents. Many times, hours, days, and even weeks after an accident, the first real signs of injuries can rear their ugly heads. That is why it is critically important to have any child who was in an auto or school bus accident fully evaluated by a doctor or hospital personnel, and to pay attention to their complaints in the days and weeks after. This is true even if the accident seems to have minor damage to the vehicles involved. Cars are designed to absorb these impacts, while the human body is not.
A mother arrived a day care center in Australia to pick up her son and found something very disturbing – her son was locked in the day care center alone with no supervision or anyone else around. The mother then broke through a window to get her son out of the day care center. The mother arrived just before closing time at the day care center. Unfortunately, it appears that the staff left early and forgot about the little boy left behind. This incident was frightening but not tragic as the little boy was not harmed even though he was left alone.
Special needs children / students need to have proper supervision and patience from teachers in Indiana and other States. In Lafayette, Indiana, a special need middle school teacher was fired by the school board for duct taping a student’s mouth shut. This truly is no way to discipline a child or make a point. It is corporal punishment – plain and simple. Pamela Dahnke, the middle school teacher, was a health and nutrition teacher. One would think that she would realize the psychological and social ramifications of such acts in Indiana.
In Georgia, a parent can be held liable for the negligence of a child driving an automobile that is maintained by the parent for the use and convenience of his family. If the parent, as the owner of the car, has given permission to his child to drive the car and has relinquished control of the car to the child then the parent can be held liable for injuries caused by the child as long as the child was in the car when the accident occurred and the car was being used for a “family purpose.”
In many school districts including the one in Tucson, Arizona, the school district or school board has a zero drug tolerance policy in the public school system. Crack, Meth, and, even aspirin are prohibited in the school system. There are many cases that have been reported where a child / student was suspended from school for having aspirin, Tylenol, or even vitamins in schools. There should be a distinction between Crack and Aspirin but the zero drug tolerance policy seems to lump all drugs and medications together.