A Florida school district will pay $2 million to the family of an autistic student who choked to death on a chicken nugget.
The settlement was announced this week in response to a lawsuit over the Aug. 13, 2019, death of Kedar Williams, 19, who suffocated while eating the finger food at William T. Dwyer High School in Palm Beach Gardens.
“Having your son wave goodbye to you in the morning, before school, and then never seeing him alive again is a mother’s worst nightmare,” Williams’ mom, Megan Williams, said in a statement. “Our family has a gaping hole without Kedar in our lives.”
Still, a family lawyer said Williams’ parents are happy with the settlement and with a program they helped push for to help prevent incidents like this in the future.
“His parents are pleased not only with the settlement, but they are most proud of the fact they fought for their son and fought for a training program designed to address the deficiencies that led to Kedar’s death,” attorney Sia Baker-Barnes said.
The 19-year-old’s autism made him largely non-verbal and he had a condition that gave him breathing issues, making him vulnerable to choking.
An aide — who was exclusively supposed to be supervising Williams — was seen on video helping another student while Williams was unable to breathe.
“While no amount of money will ever take away the pain caused by this tragedy, the School District of Palm Beach County hopes that the settlement reached with the Williams family will help to ease the burden of this tremendous loss,” said Claudia Shea, a spokesperson with the school district.
With Post wires
