CHARLESTON – Three instructors at Horace Mann Middle School have been named in two civil lawsuits alleging they physically and verbally assaulted two special education students.
Teacher Anthony Wilson as well as aides Lilliana Branham and Walter Pannell are named as defendants in the civil complaints filed May 26 in Kanawha Circuit Court. The Kanawha County Board of Education also is named as a defendant in the lawsuits.
The cases are reminiscent of cases filed in 2019 involving a similar incident in a Berkeley County classroom. Ben Salango represented the families in those civil lawsuits. That litigation resulted in having cameras placed in special education classrooms.
“The only reason there are cameras in classrooms is because of that case,” Salango told The West Virginia Record. “I called the mom in that Berkeley County case (Amber Pack) and told her about these cases. Even though she’s more than 300 miles away, how she advocated for her child is why we were able to catch the child abusers in this case.
“They clearly weren’t trained properly, and they never should have been in those classrooms to begin with.”
Misdemeanor battery charges also were filed against the three individual defendants in the Horace Mann cases. All three were arraigned Wednesday afternoon and released on bond.
Vankisha Hill, as the mother of N.H., filed the first complaint. It says her son is disabled, suffers from autism and ADHD and has other mental disabilities. He is non-verbal and requires assistance with activities of daily living.
Rosetta Ramsey, as legal guardian of T.R., filed the second complaint. It says her daughter is disabled and suffers from Cornelia DeLange Syndrome. She also is non-verbal and requires assistance with basic daily activities.
“Parents take their kids to school every day believing and trusting their kids will be in a safe and nurturing environment,” Michael Cary, another attorney representing the plaintiffs, told The Record. “But that wasn’t the case for these two kids. They suffered extreme verbal, physical and emotional abuse at the hands of these Kanawha County employees.
“There must be accountability.”
According to her complaint, Hill had to take her son to the emergency room on May 4 because he was limping and having difficulty walking. When she contacted the school, Wilson said her son had tripped and fell over a bean bag in the classroom.
But, Hill saw something different when she watched video surveillance footage of the classroom.
“Defendants forcefully pushed N.H. onto a bean bag causing his right leg to twist and severely injuring his right knee,” the complaint states. “Although N.H. was injured and visibly in pain, defendants rendered no aid and forced N.H. to stand and attempt to walk unassisted.
“As N.H. limped and otherwise struggled to walk, defendant Wilson aggressively pushed him from behind.”
Hill said the defendants contacted the school nurse hours later to evaluate her son.
“When the school nurse entered the room, defendants made material misrepresentations to the nurse including saying that they were unsure why N.H. was limping,” the complaint states, adding that the boy was confined to a bean bag or chair under threat of physical and/or emotional abuse. “When he did leave (the bean bag or chair), he was physically and verbally abused and disciplined.
“Defendants … would not take him to the restroom. Instead, defendants forced N.H. to urinate on himself and then physically and verbally abused him.”
The complaint says the abuse of N.H. include striking him in his face, striking his buttocks, slapping his hands, grabbing him and dragging him back and forth onto the bean bag, screaming at him for getting up, not helping him when he reached for assistance, violently picking him up and jerking up his pants, screaming and shouting in his face, threatening to punch him “in the nose” if he touched Pannell’s lunch, pushing him down and dragging him by his shirt, aggressively slamming him down into the bean bag and mocking him.
According to Ramsey’s complaint, she received a phone call May 12 from Horace Mann Principal Shandon Tweedy, Assistant Principal Brittany Harris, the Charleston Police Department and Child Protective Services about an incident involving T.R.
The next day, she viewed videotaped surveillance from May 4 and May 12 showing T.R. being physically and verbally abused by Branham, Wilson and Pannell.
The abuse included striking her in the face numerous times, striking her arm and grabbing her by the arm, striking her buttocks, striking her leg, grabbing her by the neck and screaming at her to apologize, screaming and shouting in her face, slamming her into a bean bag and mocking and ridiculing her.
Both complaints accuse the defendants of disability harassment and discrimination, which is a violation of the West Virginia Human Rights Act, as well as negligence, civil assault and battery, a tort of ourtage as well as the board of negligent hiring, supervision and retention.
The health and safety of our students is our top priority,” Briana Warner, the board’s communications director, said in a statement provided to The Record. “We are aware of the situation and are following our policies and procedures on reporting, as well as working with law enforcement. We are not able to comment on any personnel matters.”
Both plaintiffs seek compensatory and punitive damages, pre- and post-judgment interest, attorney fees, court costs and other relief.
Hill’s case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Duke Bloom, and Ramsey’s case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Carrie Webster.
The plaintiffs both are represented by Michael Cary of Cary Law Office in Charleston as well as by Ben Salango and Kristina Salango of Preston & Salango in Charleston.
Both Salango and Cary said more civil lawsuits likely will be filed against the defendants.
“We have 90 days of footage, and we’ve only looked at about 20 minutes so far,” Salango said. “A third child was physically abused in the footage we saw. So with certainty, there will be a third lawsuit. And a fourth one likely is forthcoming as well.”
Kanawha Circuit Court case numbers 21-C-437 (Hill) and 21-C-438 (Ramsey)