Candlelight Vigil Being Held Sunday For Max Benson

EL DORADO HILLS (CBS13) – The family of a 13-year-old boy with autism who died after being restrained at school is holding a candlelight vigil on Sunday.

The vigil for Max Benson will be held at 2 p.m. at the El Dorado County District Attorney's Office. On Tuesday, the district attorney's office announced criminal charges against three employees accused of Benson's death.

Benson, a special-needs student, died in November 2018 after he reportedly became violent while at Guiding Hands School, and was restrained by one of the school's employees. At some point, Benson became unresponsive and that's when a teacher performed life-saving measures on Benson, according to the El Dorado County Sherriff's Office.

Benson was then taken to the UC Davis Medical Center where he was declared dead two days later.

The California Department of Education said in its preliminary investigation that Guiding Hands violated multiple state rules in regard to Max's death.