According to USA Today, and other news sources, a personal injury lawsuit has been filed against a military school in Kansas for creating an atmosphere that encouraged a culture of abuse, which resulted in a new student's physical abuse and trauma.
Cellular video surveillance has recently been released to the press that depicts the 14-year-old student – with two broken legs – being pulled to his feet by other students, pleading with a teacher for help, and then being dragged out of the camera's view to where, according to the suit, he was beaten.
J.M., the student's mother, filed her lawsuit in March. There are six other families also filing lawsuits against St. John's Military School. All are seeking damages yet to be specified and all claim that the school both allowed, and encouraged, abuse.
Since 2006 St. John's has settled nine abuse lawsuits. Local law enforcement authorities have yet to file assault charges against any one person at the school – claiming that there is a lack of evidence.
J.M.'s son, Jesse, suffered with two broken legs during his first four days attending St. John's last August. Before being sent back to his home in Auburn, Ca., he was hospitalized. Jesse did not return to the school.
During an interview with Associated Press reporters from her home J.M. said, "How many more kids need to be hurt before they are heard? Can you imagine what some of these boys go through, how scared they are? This is the worst case of bullying I have seen and it is all orchestrated by the adults at the school."
St. John's Military School is an Episcopal boarding school and has students from all across the U.S. Annual tuition is almost $30,000 for students attending grades 6 through 12.
The school, through its public relations firm, stated, "St. John's Military School prides itself on its 120-year history of helping young men develop leadership and academic skills in a safe and structured environment and emphatically denies the existence of a culture of abuse."
According to the suit, Jesse broke his left leg's tibia bone on his first day of school and his right leg was broken on his third day.
Jesse, according to J.M., has had some difficulty remembering exactly when and how his legs were broken. He has recalled being pushed to the ground during a run on his first day and the drill instructor told the other students to run over him. Jesse remembered a later beating after being forced to stand in the school's mess hall.
The mess hall incident is the one depicted in the video. Jesse is seen being ordered by an instructor to stand on his broken legs – while a very mild, "please help me" escapes from his mouth before being drowned out by the laughter of his fellow students.
His crutches, his only means of support, are then seen being taken from him before he is dragged to a corner of the mess hall, out of the camera's view.
The suit states that though the camera wasn't able to show it, Jesse was taken outside, thrown onto the ground, and then dragged, shaken, kicked, and punched – by other students and school staff.
Police were told by the students that they thought Jesse was only "faking his injury."
Jesse now walks with a steel plate in his leg, is scarred and has withdrawn. J.M. said, "His leg is a constant reminder of what happened to him and that is why psychologically he has buried this so deep. It is very hard to get anything out of him — he curls up into a ball and starts crying because I think it was just so horrific what he went through."
If you, or someone you hold dear, have been physically or emotionally hurt by the actions of another party you have grounds for a lawsuit. Contact a personal injury lawyer right away to file your case.