D.A. to Decide Soon on Charges in Death of Autistic Youngster

The Orange County district attorney’s office will decide this week whether to file charges in the May 1 death of a 14-year-old autistic boy, who suffocated while being restrained by a teacher at the county’s Gill Education Center, a Huntington Beach police spokesman said Monday.

Barth Pico, who was also retarded, had thrown a tantrum on the bus ride from Fairview Developmental Center in Costa Mesa, where he lived, to Gill, where he went to school, police said. As he became more violent, his teacher used a diaper as a blindfold, swathed his hands in socks to keep him from scratching, rolled him in an exercise mat and sat on him.

Pico stopped breathing and was later pronounced dead. Huntington Beach police, along with Fairview and the Orange County Department of Education, have been investigating the boy’s death.

“We took our reports over to the D.A.’s office today (Monday), and it should take a day or two for them to review,” said Huntington Beach Police Sgt. Mike Relic.