Boston Public Schools and a transportation contractor are accused of negligence after a 9-year-old woman was allegedly raped repeatedly on a bus by one other scholar.
“There is a 9-year-old child in Boston who was raped repeatedly on her way home from school over an entire school year,” stated the household’s attorneys, Nina Bonelli and Alexander Zodikoff, in an announcement.
“Our lawsuit alleges that it was the failure of Boston Public Schools and Transdev to follow their own policies that directly led to this young child’s assault. Our client will experience a childhood haunted by trauma and flashbacks, and we will do everything in our power to hold the defendants accountable and prevent anything like this from happening to another child in our city,” they continued of their assertion.
The lawsuit filed Friday in Suffolk Superior Court alleges that the 9-year-old sufferer, a fourth-grade scholar on the Match Community Day Charter School in Hyde Park, was repeatedly raped and battered by one other scholar whereas being in shut proximity to the onboard bus monitor in addition to the bus driver. The alleged perpetrator “repeatedly threatened Child Doe with physical violence if she ever reported the abuse.”
By May 2, 2023, the administration of the varsity grew to become conscious of the sexual assaults after the woman instructed two of her mates, who in flip instructed college workers, in response to the grievance. The incidents allegedly happened throughout a seven-month interval between October 2022 and May 2023.
The lawsuit ranges costs of negligence in opposition to Transdev, The Match Foundation, Inc., which manages the varsity, Boston Public Schools, the City of Boston, the bus driver, and the bus monitor.
It additionally included a cost of “Loss of Consortium” in opposition to all of the beforehand talked about defendants, arguing that the alleged abuse price the mom “the unimpaired care, comfort, solace, moral support, assistance, society, and companionship of her child,” the sufferer; in addition to a cost of “spoliation of evidence” for the loss or nonexistence of video footage of the incidents.
Transdev, the grievance states, was unable to provide you with video footage for any of the occasions related to the alleged sexual assaults regardless of a coverage that its buses make use of video gear for safety. In addition to that coverage, the lawsuit states the bus is supplied with mirrors for the accountable adults on board to observe youngsters’s security, which they purportedly failed to observe, and likewise argues they didn’t “listen closely” to what went on onboard.
Boston Public Schools stated in an announcement that its “top priority is the safety of our young people.”
BPS Spokesman, Max Baker, added: “Our jurisdiction to take action is limited when it comes to students who do not attend a Boston Public School but still utilize BPS buses, and we were devastated to learn of this disturbing alleged incident five months after it occurred. Once we were informed, BPS took all the available and appropriate steps possible. The BPS Department of Transportation provided all information available to Match Charter School, which is legally responsible for investigating all incidents of impropriety regarding their students.”
Match Charter School issued an announcement saying that “While we cannot comment on ongoing litigation, we took all appropriate steps to immediately notify the proper authorities, work closely with the families involved, and secure the safety of the students.”
“Match Charter Public School does not operate the buses that transport our students to and from school. But, we are committed to supporting our students and families whether incidents happen on or off campus,” Nnenna Ude, the varsity’s government director, wrote within the assertion shared with the Herald.
Transdev couldn’t instantly be reached for remark.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”