A former high school student that claims two football players sexually assaulted her and that the school failed to protect her while they supported the players, as reported by Acton News 16 WNEP, is suing the Southern Columbia Area School District and its high school principal.
The students attended Southern Columbia Area High – allegedly an institution known for a win-at-all-costs policy.
The victim, a cheerleader, alleges that she witnessed her cheerleading coach testify on behalf of the football player that sexually assaulted her. And, that her coach is married to the head football coach.
One of the players, as alleged in the suit, served time at a juvenile camp prior to the school's 2010 playoffs. The player, 16-years-old at the time, was in the facility due to a previous sexual assault, in which another player held down a female student so that he could sexually assault her.
The suit states that Southern Columbia Area High "has a disciplinary system designed to protect eligibility for male athletes regardless of their criminal behavior."
After the victim accused the football player of sexual assault, and before he was convicted for a felony sex crime, she had to endure a hostile educational setting. Ben Andreozzi, the victim's attorney, said that his client's harassment "was just a year and a half of hell for her."
One such school incident, as recounted in the suit was when the victim "did not wish to be in the same honors class as the perpetrators, her alternative was to remove herself from the honors class and schedule herself in the general class."
Though a "no contact order" to prevent her attackers from being near her was provided to the school, the school district failed "to protect from harassing confrontations with other students (including) threats from friends of the perpetrators, instructing her she better not do anything that could inhibit the perpetrators ability to participate in athletics."
The suit attests that there were some instances that the school let the attackers sit at the same lunch table with the victim and allowed them to take tests in the same classroom.
Andreozzi said, "It's just not fair and something needs to be done to make sure an end comes to this type of practice."
Along with the victim's cheerleading coach, the suit stated that other school staff members testified on behalf on the football players – while the victim was still attending the school.
In one instance, noted by Andreozzi, one of the attackers was fitted with an ankle bracelet to monitor his activities. The player's coach allegedly asked the juvenile court judge to have it removed so that the boy could continue to play without injuring himself.
If you have suffered physical or emotional pain, on a school site or off, you can begin to heal and work to recover your damages by filing a lawsuit. Contact a personal injury lawyer for help!