Eight Defendants—

School Board Sued By Victim Of Restraint Incident

By Andrew Gorosko

The student victim of a February 2008 physical restraint incident at Newtown High School (NHS) has filed a lawsuit seeking money damages from eight defendants, including the Board of Education and seven students involved in the restraint incident.

The court case stems from an incident in which Scott Bierce, who is now age 19, was forcibly bound to a chair with plastic wrap by the other students during a Saturday student disciplinary program held for student violators of school rules.

In a lawsuit filed February 3 in Danbury Superior Court, Bierce of 9 Loveland Drive names as defendants the Board of Education, and the seven students.

The eight defendants have an April 20 court return date in the case.

Following the February 2008 incident, town police arrested the seven youths on various criminal charges. Charges against those students included first-degree unlawful restraint, first-degree reckless endangerment, third-degree assault, and second-degree threatening, plus criminal conspiracy.

 

Complaint

In his legal complaint, Bierce states that the town owns and controls the high school and is responsible for the education, safety, control, and supervision of the students attending the school.

According to the legal papers, on Saturday, February 9, 2008, due to the town’s “lack of supervision and control over the students at Newtown High School,” Bierce was “attacked” by the students while the youths were at a work detail for student disciplinary reasons.

The lawsuit describes the circumstances of the incident.

On his arrival at the school, Bierce was told to go to the school janitor’s office where there were no representatives present from the school administration to supervise the disciplinary work detail, it states.

Due to that lack of supervision, the defendants used a roll of plastic shrink-wrap material to restrain  Bierce’s body to a chair, confining him to the chair from his chest to his ankles, according to the legal papers. Such plastic wrap typically is used for shipping.

Packets of sugar were opened and poured onto Bierce’s head, the lawsuit adds. Also, a student pulled back Bierce’s head and another student wrote to word “snitch” on his head, according to the lawsuit.

Additionally, a Hitler-style mustache was drawn on Bierce’s upper lip and a penis was drawn on his left cheek, the suit adds.

The lawsuit claims that Bierce’s shirt was twisted at the neck until he protested that it was painful and asked that the students stop.

The students then placed Bierce upon a cart and dragged him about the school while he was still restrained to the chair by the plastic wrap, according to the complaint. During the incident, Bierce was thrown from the cart and sustained facial and head injuries, the legal papers state.

The documents state that at no time during the incident did a high school administrator appear on the scene to stop the activity of the defendants.

Also, the incident involving Bierce was recorded with a video camera and that video was posted on the Internet-based website known as YouTube.com, it adds.

Additionally, still photos of the incident were posted on the Internet-based social networking website known as facebook.com, according to the lawsuit.

“As a result of the…incident, the plaintiff Scott Bierce has suffered physical and psychological injuries and has been required to undergo medical treatment and intensive in- and out-patient psychotherapy,” according to the court papers.

“The conduct of the individual defendants due to the town’s negligent supervision was extreme and outrageous, reckless and beyond the bounds of all decency,” the document states.

The incident would never had happened had the town properly supervised and controlled the defendants, it adds.

Due to the town’s negligence, Bierce “suffered negligent infliction of emotional distress and [has] been required to undergo medical treatment and intensive in- and out-patient psychotherapy,” according to the plaintiff.

The incident constituted “intentional harmful and offensive touching without justification or excuse” and amounts to “civil battery,” it adds.

The lawsuit characterizes the actions of the seven individual defendants as the “intentional infliction of emotional distress.”

Because video recordings and still photos of the incident were posted on the Internet, those postings amounted to an invasion of the plaintiff’s privacy, resulting in public disclosure of embarrassing private information, it adds. The Internet postings further victimized and embarrassed the plaintiff by forcing him to relive the incident in an embarrassing public forum, it adds.

Due to the incident, Bierce will continue to suffer physical pain and anguish, which are likely to be permanent, according to the legal papers

As a result of the incident, Bierce has had and will continue to have bills for his medical care and treatment, the lawsuit states. Thus, the lawsuit seeks money damages for Bierce.

According to the filing’s “statement of amount in demand,” Bierce seeks damages exceeding $15,000.

In a July 23, 2008, notice to the school board, attorney Roy Krueger of Danbury, representing Bierce, stated that compensatory damages, in an amount to be determined by a court trial, were estimated to exceed $200,000. That document states that Bierce had a well documented history of being the victim of school bullying by certain other NHS students.

Response

Asked to comment on the lawsuit, School Superintendent Janet Robinson said this week, “It’s pending litigation. We will make no comment.”

The lawsuit will be referred to the school board’s insurance company, which would assign a lawyer to defend the school board against the claims made in the suit, she said.

Police Chief Michael Kehoe had no comment on the pending lawsuit.

On March 13, 2008, an unidentified female went to the police station and provided police with a picture of the incident that she had found on the facebook.com website on the Internet. The facebook.com account on which the photo had been posted belonged to one of the youths accused in the case, according to court papers.

On March 14, 2008, police reported the matter to school officials who then started an investigation, interviewing Bierce, who had been pictured bound in the plastic wrap. Bierce initially did not want to discuss the matter and denied that it had taken place. Bierce told school officials that he feared retaliation by the other youths for “snitching.”