Oshkosh, Wisconsin: Teacher Laurie Ann Hoopman, 48, dies after being repeatedly kicked in the chest by a student

By Jennifer K. Woldt • of The Northwestern • August 17, 2010
More than three years after an Oshkosh middle school teacher died, attorneys are still arguing whether she died from injuries she received while working with an autistic student.

At stake are death benefits a state commission says the Oshkosh School district and its insurance company owe her family.

Laurie Ann Hoopman, 48, was found dead by her children March 20, 2007, days after her co-workers said they saw a student kick her in the chest.

Her family argues Hoopman died due to injuries she received when an autistic student in her Carl Traeger Middle School class kicked her in the chest multiple times in the days before her death. The Oshkosh school district and its insurer said the cause of Hoopman's death is unknown.

"We're just trying to get the truth out there," Laurie Hoopman's husband, Steve Hoopman, said Monday. "Everybody's not accepting the truth that we know is out there."

Attorneys representing the Oshkosh School District and Acuity Insurance Company, filed an appeal in Sheboygan County Circuit Court last week that seeks to reverse a state Labor and Industry Review Commission's ruling that the school district and insurance company pay Hoopman's family death benefits and funeral and burial expenses along with making a payment to the state's work injury supplemental fund.

Officials from the Oshkosh school district declined comment and others did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment on this story Monday.

An administrative law judge presiding over a state Department of Workforce Development Worker's Compensation Division hearing ruled it was unclear what caused Hoopman's death and therefore benefits did not need to be paid out. On appeal, the Labor and Industry Review Commission reversed the decision and ordered the family was entitled to the benefits.

A circuit court judge will review the evidence that was presented during those hearings before making a ruling, said Terence Bouressa, the De Pere-based attorney representing Hoopman's family.

The appeal has been filed in Sheboygan County, where Acuity Insurance Company is based, but Bouressa said these types of action are usually heard in the county where the injury occurred or where the employee or employer is based. He said he is planning on filing a motion to see if the case could be moved to Winnebago County Circuit Court.

Bouressa is unsure when a decision would be made, but said it could take four to six months.

Jennifer K. Woldt: (920) 426-6676 or jwoldt@thenorthwestern.com.

Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Torrance Cantrell, 8, dies after parishoners perform exorcism for his autism

Torrance Cantrell, age 8

Autistic Boy Dies During Exorcism
8-Year-Old Wrapped In Sheets During Storefront Prayer Service

(CBS/AP) An autistic 8-year-old boy died while wrapped in sheets during a prayer service held to exorcise the evil spirits that church members blamed for his condition.

The minister who performed the service was arrested in connection with the death, which occurred Friday night at a church in a run-down strip mall.

The mother had been taking her son to Faith Temple Church of the Apostolic Faith three times a week for the last three weeks in hopes of curing his autism, said Bishop David Hemphill Sr.

It was after more than an hour of prayer that a parishioner noticed the boy was no longer moving and called emergency workers, Hemphill said. The boy's grandmother said force was used, an allegation disputed by church members.

“We were asking God to take this spirit that was tormenting this little boy to death,” Hemphill said. “We were praying that hard, but not to kill.”

Hemphill identified the boy as Torrance Cantrell and the man arrested as Ray Hemphill, his brother and another minister who led Friday's service. David Hemphill said he has not talked to his brother or the boy's mother, Patricia Cooper, since Friday night. Cooper could not be reached for comment.

Police have not released the boy's name but have said they don't believe he was struck. The results of an autopsy also have not been disclosed.

Church members had wrapped the boy in sheets to keep him from scratching himself and others, but he was allowed to sit “any way that he feels comfortable,” Hemphill said.

The boy's grandmother said the boy had been restrained.

“They held the boy down, they held him down until ... he went to a smothery grave,” Mary Luckett told Milwaukee television station WTMJ.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that David Hemhill's wife, Pamela Hemphill, said that Torrance's mother held the boy's feet and two other women held the boy's hands during the prayer session.

David Hemphill started the independent church in 1997. It meets twice a week and has a congregation of six families.

Cooper, the boy's mother, started coming to the church about three months ago after she met a parishioner at a doctor's office, Hemphill said. Cooper told the parishioner about her son's autism, and the church member invited her to a Sunday service. She joined the next week.

A makeshift memorial with four colored candles and a few stuffed animals sat on a window ledge outside the boy's home Sunday.