NHS Restraint Case Victim Plans Lawsuit

By Andrew Gorosko

A lawyer who represents the 17-year-old boy who was forcibly bound to a chair with plastic wrap by other Newtown High School (NHS) students in a February incident at the school has notified the town that the town will be sued for monetary damages.

The lawyer claims that the boy “was the victim of certain physical and psychological injury…due solely to the grossly negligent and careless supervision of Newtown High School students by the town and its agents or administrators.”

In a July 23 letter to the town, attorney Roy H. Krueger of Danbury explains that the boy will seek compensatory damages in an amount to be determined at trial, but estimated to exceed $200,000.

Court documents describe the details of a February 9 incident involving eight students at a NHS detention session at which one of the youths was forcibly bound to a chair with layers of plastic wrap by the others, after which the boy toppled over and hit his head on a tile floor, leaving him briefly unconscious.

The incident has resulted in the arrest of seven NHS students on charges including first-degree unlawful restraint, first-degree reckless endangerment, third-degree assault, second-degree threatening, and criminal conspiracy. The unlawful restraint charge is a felony.

The students videotaped the incident, and then posted a video clip and a still image of the activity on the Internet, unwittingly providing detailed evidence for their court prosecution.

School Superintendent Janet Robinson on July 31 declined comment on the planned lawsuit, citing restrictions on her ability to discuss such matters.

Attorney Krueger explains in detail why the victim is entitled to compensatory damages.

The lawyer alleges that the victim has a documented history of being a victim of school bullying by  students who were assigned to the detention session with him on February 9. The session was held as punishment for students who had violated school rules.

“There were no representatives from the Newtown High School administration present to supervise the work detail,” the lawyer states.

A janitor who was designated to oversee the detention session was working elsewhere in the school when the restraint incident occurred.

Due to a lack of supervision and the failure of the school’s duty to protect students from bullying, the victim “was shrink-wrapped to a chair from his chest to ankles,” the lawyer states.

Sugar packets were opened and their contents were poured onto his head, the lawyer adds. Also, a student pulled the victim’s head back, while a female student wrote the word “snitch” on the victim’s head, the attorney adds.

Additionally, various markings were made upon the bound boy’s face, the lawyer states.

The victim’s shirt was twisted at his neck, resulting in his protesting that it hurt and asking that the students stop, Mr Krueger adds.

The lawyer said that the victim was then placed on a dolly and dragged around the school while he was still bound to the chair with plastic wrap, after which the victim fell from the dolly, receiving facial and head injuries.

In court documents, police have said that the boy fell unconscious for about 20 seconds after his head hit a tile floor.

“[The victim] never sought medical treatment out of fear that his parents would find out about the events that occurred and report it to school officials,” according to court documents.

During the course of the incident, no school administrator stopped the incident, Mr Krueger adds.

Also, he notes that the incident was videotaped by the offenders and then posted on the Internet website known as YouTube.com, and that a still photo of the incident were posted on the Internet social-networking website known as facebook.com.

Six of the seven youths that police have arrested in the case are under age 18, so their identities are shielded by state law. Five are male youthful offenders, meaning they were 16 or 17 when the incident occurred. The sole female who was charged was 15 years old, and thus is categorized as a juvenile. Their six cases will be adjudicated in closed court.

One of the youths whom police arrested was age 18 when the incident occurred. In June, police charged Matthew Cluff of 1 Smoke Rise Ridge with first-degree unlawful restraint, first-degree reckless endangerment, and third-degree assault. Cluff is next scheduled to appear August 15 in Danbury Superior Court.