She was arrested for sticking a recording device to her daughter’s wheelchair to prove mistreatment — now she’s suing
A Louisiana mother was arrested after she attached a listening device to her daughter's wheelchair. She wanted to document the mistreatment the child experienced at school.
Louisiana doesn't ban recording devices so long as "one party" knows that they are being recorded.
The mom, Amanda Carter, alleges that Livingston Parish Public Schools has been discriminating against her daughter, "Law & Crime" reported. As an infant she was abused by her biological father leading to traumatic brain injuries and other impairments. There was a concern that her daughter was being mistreated by a staff person, which prompted her to try the recording device.
In Carter's lawsuit, the mother says that because she attached the recording device to ensure her daughter was being treated fairly, it began a "road to retaliation."
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“Amanda learned her daughter was being mistreated from a staff person so in order to assure her daughter’s safety, she put an audio recorder on [the child],” the suit says. “What she heard was horrific and Amanda complained again. School Officials figured out that Amanda had been taping the classroom activities and once again, retaliated by filing criminal charges against Amanda.”
Police allege that it was "wiretapping."
Carter's lawsuit cites one recording that proves the schools "failed to provide [the child] any academic, related services or physical education services that day." It was something she'd been concerned was happening for months. She called it negligence that prompted criminal retaliation.
“Worse yet, Amanda can also hear that staff are changing [the child's] diaper on the floor as there is no bathroom or changing table,” the lawsuit says. “She hears staff laughing during the process and commenting they are not changing [the child's] diaper enough. Amanda learns that staff are doing daily body searches of [the child] when she arrives at school in an effort to find evidence of bruising at home, so they could file other false reports with the [Department of Family Services] which they do over and over.”
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The law mandates that all children regardless of disability have the right to go to school and disability laws mandate that there be accommodations to any of those that might need ramps, rails or other assistance.
While traveling on the bus, Carter said that her daughter wasn't being properly restrained in the wheelchair. Other children and even school officials "would take turns sitting on [her] lap when she was being transported across he campus in a wheelchair."
Any time Carter complained she was retaliated against by the school, she says.
“Rather than respond to Amanda’s concerns, the Public School staff started on a road of retaliation and weaponized the local Child Protective Services in an effort to chill Amanda’s advocacy,” the filing continues.