TOLEDO, OHIO - A fifth-grader said two cafeteria workers put him in a freezer for 10 to 15 minutes as a punishment for throwing food. <br>
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The two food-service workers at Spring Elementary School were suspended with pay Thursday. <br>
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Frankie Coley, 11, said he and a friend were playing while sitting at a table in the cafeteria when a food-service worker accused him of throwing food. <br>
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The cafeteria worker grabbed him by the neck and put him in the walk-in freezer and shut the door, he said. The boy's mother said her son was in the freezer for between 10 and 15 minutes Wednesday when he was asked by a worker whether he had calmed down. <br>
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``I didn't answer her, so she kept me in there,'' the boy said. ``I started banging on the door, asking them to let me out.'' <br>
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A classmate let him out while other pupils were returning to class, he said. <br>
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The school didn't release the names of the suspended workers. <br>
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``This is something we are taking very seriously,'' said Jane Bruss, a spokeswoman for the school district. ``We are investigating what happened.'' <br>
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Shana Thompson, the boy's mother, said she plans to talk with police about filing criminal charges.
