TOLEDO — A fifth-grader said two cafeteria workers put him in a freezer for 10 to 15 minutes as a punishment for throwing food.

        The two food-service workers at Spring Elementary School were suspended with pay Thursday.

        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.

        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.

        “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.”

        “This is something we are taking very seriously,” said Jane Bruss, a spokeswoman for the school district. “We are investigating what happened.”

        Shana Thompson, the boy's mother, said she plans to talk with police about filing criminal charges.

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