Post by natalie on Oct 8, 2015 13:01:42 GMT -5
Students Die after Being Hypnotized by Principal
The families of three Florida students who died after being hypnotized by their then-principal will each receive $200,000 in a settlement with the school district. The payout comes four years after former North Port High School Principal George Kenney hypnotized students Wesley McKinley, 16, Marcus Freeman, 16, and Brittany Palumbo, 17.
Though no explicit link tied the students’ deaths to Kenney’s hypnosis, the former principal admitted he had hypnotized McKinley the day before the teenager killed himself in April 2011, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune reported. Palumbo also took her life after being hypnotized.
Freeman died in a 2011 car accident after he hypnotized himself, a technique Kenney had taught him in order to help the quarterback concentrate and not worry about pain during games, according to court documents. The 16-year-old football player was killed when he veered off a highway as he drove home from a painful visit to the dentist. His girlfriend, who was also in the car but survived, said Freeman got a strange look on his face before he went off the road.
It was discovered during an investigation that Kenney had hypnotized as many as 75 students, staff members and others from 2006 until McKinley’s death. One student athlete recalled being hypnotized as many as 40 times to improve his concentration.
Kenney was placed on administrative leave from North Port High School in 2011 and he resigned in 2012. He served a one-year probation after pleading no contest to unlawful practice and was prohibited from practicing hypnosis without a license.
The Sarasota County School Board unanimously approved the settlement with a 4-0 vote on Tuesday, which will pay out a total of $600,000 to the families of the three students. The settlement was approved a week before the parents’ civil case against the district would have gone to trial.
“It’s something they will never get over,” Damian Mallard, an attorney representing the families, told the Herald-Tribune. “It’s probably the worst loss that can happen to a parent ... to lose a child, especially needlessly because you had someone who decided to perform medical services on kids without a license. He altered the underdeveloped brains of teenagers, and they all ended up dead because of it.”
Kenney surrendered his teaching license in 2013 under pressure from the Florida Department of Education and cannot reapply. At present, he is believed to be operating a bed-and-breakfast establishment in North Carolina.
“The thing that is the most disappointing to them [the parents] is that he never apologized, never admitted wrongdoing and is now living comfortably in retirement in North Carolina with his pension,” Mallard added.
Sources: Caitlin Nolan, Inside Edition, October 7, 2015, and The Sarasota-Herald Tribune.
