North Iredell News

The Iredell-Statesville School district and the city face a lawsuit nearly two-years after an incident involving a now-former school resource officer and an autistic student. 

In addition to the public entities named in the suit filed with the U.S Western District Court in Charlotte is the ex-resource officer Michael Fattaleh. 

The Record and Landmark reported that in September 2018, Fattaleh had responded to a call from the Pressly Alternative School's staff members struggling to restrain the 7-year-old autistic student, who was allegedly spitting. 

Alexander Heroy, of the law firm James, McElroy and Diehl, represents the 7-year-old student who he described as being stressed but wasn't violent. 

"... What should have happened is he should have been allowed to calm down in a safe environment," Heroy said, the Record and Landmark reported. "Instead, the officer walked past his trained teachers and trained specialists who were with him. He thought he saw the child spit on the ground and immediately charged in handcuffs and pinned him to the ground." 

The student, the Record and Landmark reported, was "pinned" to the ground for 40 minutes, the attorney said. 

"That was just totally unnecessary into a handcuff and pin down a child for that long," Heroy said, the Record and Landmark reported. "It just causes immense harm."

The lawsuit is alleging excessive force in the case, and the student's attorney, Heroy, said that the school's staff acted inadequately. 

Fattaleh resigned from the Statesville Police Department, the Record and Landmark report, however, Ashley Cannon, Fattaleh's attorney, told the publication that there are no active investigations or criminal proceedings related to Fattaleh's case.