EL DORADO HILLS, CA (KTXL/CNN) - Questions swirl around the death of an autistic teenager from California.
The 13-year-old's death has sparked conversation from former students at the Guiding Hands School in El Dorado Hills, California. They're wondering if something like this could happen again.
The student died two days after staff at the school restrained him during a violent episode.
"It's not surprising...." said Dave Gaines, CEO of Sacramento Autistic Spectrum and Special Needs Alliance, a non-profit that works with people diagnosed with autism.
"It is possible that there was nothing done incorrectly or improperly by anyone in this situation, but it's possible that there was something done incorrectly," Gaines said.
The El Dorado County Sheriff's Office says they were called out to the school when the student became unresponsive. Two days later, he was pronounced dead.
"I would call them an abusive school honestly," said former student Katie Kaufman.
Kaufman was a student at the school from sixth to eighth grade. She says she remembers being restrained as a form of discipline.
"I would get upset and they would jump on top of you, even if it was like you got upset and started cursing, or something they would just jump on top of you right away thinking you were going to start swinging," Kaufman said.
Kaufman said she would go home and tell her mom, but after it continued to happen, her mom transferred her to another school.
"I've had parents who had good experiences, I had parents who have had bad experiences and I have had parents who didn't want to place their students there after touring this school," Gaines said.
A principal at Guiding Hands School issued a statement acknowledging the 13-year-old's death saying:
It is with heavy hearts we share the very difficult news that a beloved member of our school community has passed away. Out of respect for the family, and the on-going investigation, we are unable to share full details at this time.
The sheriff's office is still investigating the incident.
The official cause of death or the student's name has not yet been released.
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