Newbury, Vt. — A student of a Bradford, Vt.-based academy for teens with behavioral or mental health problems has been cited into court in connection with an alleged physical assault that required a staff member to be airlifted to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center for treatment, according to Vermont State Police.

The Connecticut River Academy student is a juvenile so his name and several details about what took place last week at the academy’s Newbury House, a residential facility in Newbury, are being withheld. But a lawyer for the academy said the alleged incident took place when the staff member was physically restraining the student, which is a method used to control behavior in an emergency situation in order to prevent danger to the student or others.

“We are primarily focused on the safety of those students and our staff, so if and when there are occasions when the safety of the student, other students or the staff is at risk, a student can be physically restrained by staff members who have extensive training in the application of those restraints,” Becket Family of Services Chief Legal and Employment Affairs Officer David Chabot said on Monday. “I would submit … that the impact was not something directly intentional toward the staff member but rather the result of the student being placed in a physical restraint.”

Just what injuries the staff member suffered are unknown. Chabot declined to release the staff member’s name, but said the employee was a male.

Becket Family of Services is a trade name that represents an alliance of several nonprofits in New England, including the Vermont Permanency Initiative Inc., which runs the Connecticut River Academy in Bradford, Vt., Chabot said.

The students at the academy, which is recognized by the Vermont Agency of Education as an independent school, are all boys who generally range in age from 13 and 18. The majority of them are in Department for Children and Families custody or referred to the academy by a nearby school district, such as Oxbow or Blue Mountain, Chabot said.

In addition to having behavioral problems, some students are in treatment for mental health and other conduct disorders, he added.

Vermont State Police troopers responded to the incident on Thursday afternoon and made the decision to take the student into custody for aggravated assault, according to the news release issued last week.

The student was released on a citation to appear in an Orange County courthouse on Aug. 3.

Assistant Orange County State’s Attorney Dickson Corbett said “juvenile matters are confidential” and that he had no comment.

The incident will likely prompt a review of the program, the competency of staff during the application of restraints and additional debriefing and training, Chabot said.

Jordan Cuddemi can be reached at jcuddemi@vnews.com or 603-727-3248.