After 78 days, Montravious is home

Seventy-eight days after he was airlifted to an Atlanta children’s hospital and 42 days after doctors amputated his leg, 13-year-old Montravious Thomas is home.

Thomas was taken to Egleston Children’s Hospital in a helicopter, but last Tuesday the former East Columbus Magnet Academy student came back to Columbus in a car with his mother wondering what comes next.

He was injured Sept. 12 in a classroom at the Edgewood Student Service Center during a highly publicized altercation with contract behavioral specialist Bryant Mosley, who was trying to restrain the troubled youth. He has been hospitalized since that night after suffering a fractured tibia, a dislocated knee and severed arteries in the schoolhouse incident.

His right leg was amputated just below the knee on Oct. 14.

Attorney Renee Tucker

Attorney Renee Tucker of Forest B. Johnson & Associates says the youngster has returned to Columbus and that he faces trips back-and-forth to Atlanta for treatment and physical therapy.

At Egleston, Montravious has been educated about the use of prosthesis but the lawyer says he cannot be fitted for an artificial limb until after the area is completely healed. “At that point, he can — and will — get a prosthesis,” Tucker says.

His situation has made headlines in a variety of media outlets. The fact that after the injury school officials sent home in a school bus has drawn questions from around the world.

Lawyers from the school district have had little to say about the incident citing the threat of a lawsuit. Tucker says that suit could be filed by the end of this month, that they are drafting the language of that suit right now.

Legal papers presented by Tucker’s firm originally mentioned a $5 million price tag — but that was before the amputation.

“Let’s just say it will be north of $5 million,” she says.