Lawsuit Claims Special Needs Student Strapped To Chair

ARAB, Ala. (AP) – An Alabama school superintendent says allegations in a lawsuit involving a special needs student are “absolutely and unequivocally false.”

The student’s father claims his 6-year-old son was punished by being restrained in a chair designed for therapeutic purposes at Arab Primary School.

The father said he only learned his son was placed in the Rifton chair after the boy told his doctor he didn’t like “the buckle chair,” according to a lawsuit filed last week in U.S. District Court in Alabama.

Arab City Schools Superintendent John Mullins said in a statement Wednesday that an administrative law judge earlier rejected the same allegations.

Mullins said it’s unfortunate the school board is again forced to use its limited resources to defend itself against “these most hurtful allegations.”