A teenage girl with a disability was reportedly raped and abused for weeks by his companions in the bus that transferred them daily to the school center, without the driver pronouncing on the matter until days later, according to the demand presented by the mother of the minor.
The abuse described as “horrible” occurred almost daily from April 4 to 20, 2019, according to the complaint filed in the Northern District of Georgia against the Fulton County School District.
The 14-year-old girl, identified as Jane Doe in the Court documents, has suffered physical and mental disabilities from birth and has trouble interacting and communicating with others, according to demand.
“She has and continues to have disabilities in her neurological development that prevent and limit her physical and mental abilities. Doe works at a cognitive and communicative level well below her real age,” notes the claim, describing her as a sweet, young and of childish spirit. “
The lawsuit states that on April 4 of last year, a student with special needs left his seat on the bus to sit next to the victim and then he touched her breasts before returning to your site.
“Emboldened by the lack of discipline and moderation,” a second student got up, sat next to the girl and touched her. The lawsuit continues to describe several other incidents in which the second student allegedly assaulted and finally raped the girl.
On April 10, a few days after the first meeting, the boy allegedly exposed himself to the girl and forced her to touch him while he groped her, according to the complaint. The next day, he took off his shirt and touched it, the document adds.
During the following days “without the intervention of the bus driver”, the boy continued to touch the girl inappropriately, exposing herself to her and forcing her to participate in sexual activities. On April 20 of last year, the boy allegedly fiddled with the girl, removed all her clothes and then raped her on the bus, the text continues.
The bus the students were traveling on, which only has “three or four rows of seats”, is equipped with a large safety mirror, as well as audio and video surveillance so that the driver can monitor what is happening.
A. Lee Parks, the Atlanta attorney representing Jane Doe and Jane Roe, daughter and mother, declared WXIA-TV that the surveillance video captured inside the bus shows the alleged assaults.
Parks said he was informed of the existence of the tapes by an employee of the school district. “It’s not about whether it happened, it’s that it’s videotaped. So there’s a rape tape, and then there’s medical confirmation of the rape,” Parks said. The lawyer clarified that he has not been given access to the recording, which is currently in the hands of the school district.
“The bus driver, in this case, was completely abandoned in his duties and repeatedly exhibited a deliberate indifference to maintain student discipline and ensure student safety, “says the complaint.
“The multiple acts of sexual assault and rape over a period of almost two weeks could not have taken place without the knowledge and / or deliberate indifference of the bus manager, who never intervened to protect Doe“, keep going.
The employee did not report any of the assaults until the day the girl was raped, when she told the school district that she had “noticed something.” The driver was “immediately removed from the district,” the Fulton County Schools reported to the NBC affiliate WXIA in Atlanta.
A spokesman told NBC News This Saturday, the accusations detailed in the lawsuit are “extremely serious and worrying for the district.” “Because we are dealing with underage students, this is a particularly sensitive matter. We need to allow ongoing investigations to be completed and respect the privacy of all students allegedly involved,” said spokesman Brian Noyes.
The girl’s mother took her daughter to receive medical attention and a doctor confirmed that she had been raped, according to the lawsuit. Now suffers emotional distress and seeks with the complaint damages.
Parks criticized the school district for not taking action against the driver before. “You can’t drive a bus with a person who is oblivious to what’s going on inside. If this was a one-time incident, maybe you didn’t get it. It was 17 days! horrible sexual assaults. That’s a guy who, sorry for the pun, is asleep at the wheel, “Parks cried.
The lawyer said the students on the bus, a specially designed vehicle that looks more like a “large SUV” that seats less than 10 children, witnessed the incidents. The school district “failed completely” to protect the girl from “infernal” abuse.
“The law requires that the Fulton County School District ensure that all students have a safe environment while they are in school and transported, “said the lawyer.
“In that sense it has failed completely with respect to one of its most vulnerable students, and this demand seeks to address the School District responsibility for creating an unsafe situation for a student with special needs who was exposed to multiple sexual assaults for 17 days, “he concluded.
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