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Mother sues school district over child's punching injury

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BEAUFORT -- The mother of a former Robert Smalls Middle School student who was critically injured and suffered brain damage after a student punched him and knocked him down in 2006 has filed a lawsuit against the Beaufort County School District.

The suit claims negligence by the school district led to the serious injury of Matthew Walls, who was taken to Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston and placed on life support July 24, 2006, after he was injured while playing a punching game with another student.

Among the claims:

• District officials failed to notice the student who punched Matthew had a long history of behavior violations, including as recent as a week before the incident.

• The district did not have a properly trained teacher supervising Matthew and his assailant and did not train school staff to provide proper medical care, including recognizing the extent of his injuries.

• The district poorly maintained and removed at least one security camera at the school before the incident.

• The district hid or removed information and evidence related to the investigation of the assault, including blood from the crime scene and created administrative hurdles for investigators.

Donna Walls, mother of Matthew Walls, is requesting a jury trial and seeking an undetermined amount of actual and punitive damages and trial costs.

Matthew, who was 13 years old and in seventh grade at the time, was playing the "Open Chest Game" in which two people punch each other in the chest. He was punched by another student and fell down, striking his head on a wall and the floor.

He was in critical condition and improved to fair before the Wall family stopped releasing news about his condition.

Matthew now is a student at Lady's Island Middle School, said John Williams, district spokesman. The lawsuit does not explicitly state whether he continues to suffer from the incident, and Donna Walls could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Beaufort County School District Superintendent Valerie Truesdale and Beaufort County Board of Education Chairman Fred Washington Jr. said they were unaware of the suit, had not be served and could not comment.

The S.C. Department of Education and Herman Gaither, Edna Crews and Phillip

McDaniel -- all former district superintendents -- are named in the suit.

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