5-year-old girl traumatized after sexual assaults on Richland 1 bus, lawsuit says
The parent of a Richland One student is suing the school district for sexual assaults against her daughter by another child on the school bus, according to a lawsuit.
The assaults left the child and her mother emotionally scarred, the suit says.
The lawsuit, filed Oct. 8, claims that in February an “older” male student on the bus tried to forced the 5-year-old girl to perform oral sex on him. The male also kissed, touched and performed a “grinding” action against her throughout the month.
The students attended Brennen Elementary School.
A spokesperson for Richland One said the district does not comment on pending litigation.
The district had “a duty to prevent the older identifiable male student from frequently sexually assaulting and harassing (the 5-year-old girl) and/or conducting himself in a manner that created an unreasonable risk of harm to others,” wrote attorney Tyler Bailey of Bailey Law Firm, which represents the mother and daughter.
The girl told her mother about the attempted oral assault later in February.
“Disturbed,” the girl’s parent reported the assault to Brennen’s administration, the suit says.
The school’s administration investigated and found that the sexual assaults were recorded on a bus security camera, according to the suit.
The suit claims that Richland One has a policy that requires pre-kindergarten students, like the girl who was assaulted, to sit at the front of the bus so the driver can monitor the students.
The assaults took place near the front of the bus in an area the bus driver should have noticed, the suit claims.
The older male who assaulted the girl should not have been allowed to sit at the front of the bus, the suit says.
The girl tried to tell the bus driver about at least one assault, the suit claims. Assaults continued to happen in the days after the girl spoke up.
Richland One failed to properly hire, train and supervise staff to protect the girl, according to the suit.
The district “could have discovered through the exercise of reasonable care that the identifiable male student posed a risk of harm to their young female Pre-K students,” the suit says.
The child and her mother will require mental health treatment, possibly for life, because of the assaults, the suit claims.
The mother is asking for an unspecified amount of money to be determined by the court for actual damages, legal fees and as punishment.