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Student’s mother sues EP staffers

LISBON — Two East Palestine Middle School employees have been named in a lawsuit filed by the mother of an 11-year-old student in Columbiana County Common Pleas Court.

Linda Thomas, the mother of the boy, is claiming Patrick Dinapoli inflicted corporal punishment on the child by striking him in the head in full view of numerous other East Palestine Middle School students on Jan. 24, 2018. Additionally, the lawsuit claims Dinapoli verbally abused the boy by directing profanity at him for the purpose of inflicting emotional and psychological harm.

The lawsuit also claims another defendant, Jennifer Hiltbrand, ostracized the boy on Feb. 10 by not allowing him to sit with others at lunch, forcing him to sit alone at a lunch room table facing away from all the other students in the lunch room for several days until he was suspended from school.

According to the lawsuit, the school was aware the 11-year-old has an emotional disorder and claims what the employees did was “outrageous.”

The lawsuit, filed by Youngstown attorney Mark Hanni, seeks no less than $25,000 in damages, including stating the boy will require professional help now and in the future due to the emotional and psychological harm the boy suffered.

djohnson@mojonews.com

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