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New lawsuit alleges Nashville student attacked, suffered head injury

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — A new federal lawsuit against Metro Nashville is alleging a 7-year-old student was attacked at school and sent home with a head injury.

The suit said the child got hurt last year when he came home from Granbery Elementary School with knots on his head and bruises on his face. His mother, Shannikka Sherrill, said she saw her son vomiting and having difficulty staying awake. She took him to an urgent care clinic, but she was forwarded to the emergency room because her son had a concussion.

In the suit, Sherrill said her son has nonverbal autism, and she knows headbanging is part of his autistic behavior. As a result, the suit said her son had an individual education plan, and he was required to have constant one-on-one supervision while at school.

While trying to figure out what happened, Sherrill said in the suit she emailed his teacher to ask what happened. His teacher replied his head banging was "high" that day. However, Sherrill noted it was two days later the principal informed her that her son had been attacked and kicked in the head by another process.

The suit said the student's paraprofessional didn't report the incident to his teacher or the school nurse.

Sherrill further alleged in the lawsuit her son faced other head injuries five other times afterward due to lack of supervision, and he suffered a traumatic brain injury.

In the lawsuit, Sherrill is asking for $300,000 for medical expenses related to her son's injuries.

Do you have more information about this story? You can email me at emily.west@newschannel5.com.

Why this man is transforming the Murfreesboro Cemetery School into a museum

This story by Aaron Cantrell reminds me of my first school in Dyersburg, TN. I was a student at Bruce School from Kindergarten to second grade until the school system was integrated. My parents graduated from this K-12 school in 1960 in one of the city's African American communities. After sitting empty for several years, part of the school was demolished while the rest was renovated and now serves as a community center for the Bruce community in Dyersburg. A local pastor is now trying to do something similar in the Cemetery community in Rutherford Co.

-Lelan Statom