A D.C. mother filed a $50 million lawsuit against the charter school, its security company, and others after her son were struck by a car and paralyzed from the neck down in front of the school.
Kaidyn Green, 9, was to be picked up early by his mom from the KIPP DC Honor Academy in December. His mother was asked to wait in the front office, and Green would be brought to her, which is standard procedure.
Instead, Green was “released from his 4th-grade classroom, then left unattended and unsupervised by employees.” He left through the school’s backdoor and walked around the school to the front.
When he spotted his mother’s car, he tried to cross Wheeler Road and was hit by a car driven by William Maurice Ward. Green was hospitalized until February of 2022 and rendered a quadriplegic. His mother told WUSA9 that her son’s lungs were severely damaged in the crash, and he was on life support for weeks.
It was announced in June that Green had died due to his injuries.
The lawsuit filed on June 6 in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia names the charter school system and its security company LGC Security LLC. In addition, Ward and the owner of the vehicle, Patrice Dixon, are also named in the suit.
Keith Watters, an attorney for the Green family, says the family is pushing for safety changes in addition to the $50 million.
“All people coming in or out of the school should come through the rear; the front entrance should be closed permanently,” according to Watters. According to him, the protocols are already in place; they just need to be enforced.
