LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A family is suing Jefferson County Public Schools after they say their disabled daughter couldn't get to her wheelchair during a fire drill.
The Jeffersontown High School student identified in the suit as J.S. uses a wheelchair and tells WDRB the chair was in the back of the classroom while she sat at her desk in October. Her mother says as part of her plan with the school, she is supposed to have an aide with her at all times. That day the aide was in a different classroom, when the alarm went off.
According to her attorney Ted Gordon, the teacher in the room told everyone to get out of the classroom. J.S. says people were crowding her wheelchair, and she couldn't get to it. That's when she decided to walk as far as she could until her legs gave out. She says she fell and hit her head. J.S. says she is still very hazy about the day, but she remembers being panicked, when she heard the fire alarm.
She hasn't been back to school since, and says she wants this lawsuit to open people's eyes. "I'm hoping the staff at JCPS do their job correctly. This isn't even in it for the money. We're just trying to get the word out that you send your kid to school and you don't know what's going to happen."
Gordon says he wants to make sure students in wheelchairs are safe. "J.S. and other disabled children that I represent, or disabled young ladies and young men, are the most vulnerable."
The family is asking for an undetermined amount of money to help with medical expenses. JCPS does not comment on pending lawsuits.
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