A lawsuit against a school after the death of a 5-year-old

A lawsuit against a school after the death of a 5-year-old

Louis' parents filed a lawsuit in Connecticut State Superior Court, pictured here in September 2022

A five-year-old boy died after collapsing during the school holidays in Connecticut in April 2022.

Lewis's parents have now filed a lawsuit claiming their son's death could have been avoided.

The teachers thought Romeo-Pierre-Louis was "playing dead" and didn't pay attention to him for eight minutes, she said.

Court documents stated that a five-year-old boy teachers thought was "playing dead" during school holidays left him unconscious on the playground for eight minutes, and he died two days later from a rare heart condition.

Now, on the anniversary of his breakdown, his parents are suing the city of West Hartford and its Board of Education. They claimed the teachers could have saved his life if they had acted sooner, according to the lawsuit seen by Insider.

Romeo Pierre Louis was playing Freeze at his elementary school in Connecticut in April 2022 when he suddenly collapsed.

Teachers at Charter Oak International Academy think he is "playing dead." But when they examined him eight minutes later, they realized he was not breathing.

The suit states that the other children told the teachers about Louis, but their warnings were ignored.

"By the time the teachers realized that Romeo was not dead and needed emergency medical treatment - it was too late, and Romeo's life could no longer be saved," the suit said.

Lewis was taken to Connecticut Children's Hospital, where he died two days later despite "great and extensive efforts to save his life."

Michael L. Chambers Jr., an attorney representing Lewis' parents, told The Washington Post that the death was "completely and completely preventable."

"As any parent drops off their child to school every morning, we place a certain level of trust in the hands of teachers and administrators. And that trust is completely shattered," he said.

The suit claims that the teachers were negligent in multiple ways.

Lewis died of Brugada syndrome, a rare disease that causes an irregular heartbeat. According to the Mayo Clinic, most people with the syndrome do not know they have it.

Chambers said Lewis' parents were unaware of their son's condition.

According to The Post, other kids in the playground thought Lewis was pretending to be asleep, police said. The teachers checked on his condition after one of the children told them he was behaving strangely. A nurse then tried to resuscitate him with chest compressions and a pacemaker but to no avail.

"The death of a child is an unimaginably devastating loss, and our thoughts are with the family and friends of Romeo Pierre Louis," Andrew Morrow, interim superintendent of West Hartford Public Schools, said in a statement.

"This tragedy has deeply affected the Charter Oak International Academy community," he added.