Three ex-employees of a shuttered Northern California alternative school each face an involuntary manslaughter charge following a 2018 incident in which an autistic student died after being restrained.
According to a news release from the El Dorado County District Attorney’s Office, Guiding Hands School Executive Director Cindy Keller, Principal Staranne Meyers and special education teacher Kimberly Wohlwend each face a charge of felony involuntary manslaughter.
The 13-year old boy was restrained on November 28, 2018, after he became violent, the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office said.
He was restrained to his face to the floor, for an hour, according to investigators. The boy left unresponsive because of restraint and he later passed away at University of California Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, officials said.
”This charge is based on the November 28, 2018, prone restraint of a minor student by Kimberly Wohlwend that resulted in that student’s death,” reads the statement.
”This case is being filed after a lengthy, multi-agency investigation into the facts and circumstances that led to the death of this student.”
”On December 5, 2018, The California Department of Education suspended the certification of Guiding Hands School, Inc., and the school was subsequently closed,” the statement notes.
After the investigation in December, the department said: “Current evidence supports a finding that GHS staff’s actions were harmful to the health, welfare and safety of an individual with exceptional needs,”
A brief stay in the decision to revoke the school’s certification was issued by Sacramento County Superior Court judge. But a few days later, the school notified the Department of Education that it “would retire (its) certification,” effective January 25.
“Revoking a school’s certification is an action that the CDE takes very seriously, and it is not done without careful consideration and justification,” State Superintendent Tony Thurmond said in January.
“Guiding Hands’ refusal to take responsibility for its actions is disheartening. It would be an injustice to the families we serve if we did not do everything within our authority to ensure that students are placed in an environment where their safety is the number one priority of those who have been entrusted with their care.”
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