A 21-year-old special needs student died yesterday after she choked on a muffin in her Brooklyn classroom.
EMT workers found the student, Dyasha Phelps Smith, unconscious in a classroom at the School for International Studies on Baltic Street in Boerum Hill at around 12:15 p.m. yesterday. She was taken to Methodist Hospital and declared dead on arrival.
Smith, a Canarsie resident, was reportedly autistic, and her food needed to be cut into small pieces and soaked in water before she could eat it. Her mother, Catherine Smith, says the staffers should have been more attentive. "I want to know why my child passed away at the school like that. She was supposed to have one-to-one attention, I want an autopsy," she told the Daily News. "This is negligence ... They would always try to calm her down with food ... I expected to see her alive and I saw my baby dead in a hospital bed."
In a statement to the press, Schools Chancellor Carmen Farina offered her condolences to Smith's family. "I am deeply saddened to hear of this loss, and my heart goes out to the student’s family and the entire school community," she said. "We will have guidance counselors at the school to help support the community during this tragedy."
