Mom Says Principal|Kicked Her Child

CLEVELAND (CN) - An East Cleveland elementary school principal dragged a disabled child into her office and kicked him, the boy's mother claims in court.

Bridgette Hereford sued the East Cleveland City School District, its Board of Education, and Caledonia Elementary School's former Principal Kimberly Trammell, on June 16 in Cuyahoga County Court.

Hereford says the school suspended Trammell two days after the incident and fired her 15 days after that.

She says her 8-year-old son, B.L., was under an individualized education plan this school year due to unspecified behavioral disabilities. He tangled with another student just after school was dismissed on Dec. 1, 2014.

The two were separated, but the other student returned to harass B.L., who ran to the school's front door, where his tormentor pulled him to the ground, Hereford says.

As B.L. screamed in dismay on the floor, Trammell came from her office and "dragged B.L., who was still lying on the ground, to her office," according to the complaint.

Inside her office, "she then kicked B.L. two separate times," Hereford says. She says "the events" were recorded on surveillance video, without specifying which particular events.

In firing Trammell, Hereford says, "the district and board noted that the district's superintendent had counseled Trammell on multiple occasions that Trammell's interactions with Caledonia staff, parents and students had been unprofessional."

But, she says, the defendants "did not take any action until Trammell assaulted B.L."

Hereford seeks punitive damages for assault and battery and civil rights violations.

She is represented by David Harvey III with Harvey Abens Iosue, of Cleveland.

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