WASHINGTON (May 19, 2009)--The practice of restraining or confining pupils in the classroom came under scrutiny Tuesday in Washington as a congressional panel heard about Cedric Napoleon of Killeen, who died as a teacher restrained him.

Napoleon suffered so much abuse that, at age 14, he had post-traumatic stress disorder.

By 2002, he was living with a foster family and attending middle school.

After acting out in class one day, Napoleon, 129 pounds, was pinned to the floor by his 230-pound special education teacher, who lay on him to quiet him down.

Federal investigators said when she got off or soon after, he was dead.

The boy's foster mother, Toni Price, told the congressional panel, "If that teacher was just doing her job, then something is very wrong with the system."

The death was ruled a homicide, but a grand jury did not indict the teacher who now works at a public high school in Loudoun County, Va.

Price earlier told CBS News correspondent Nancy Cordes “the autopsy report said that they had never seen anything like that except in a car crash, because she crushed his chest."