News

School bus sex claim in court

One mother has sued in a case involving two handicapped boys.

By LETITIA STEIN, Times Staff Writer
Published October 20, 2007

---

ADVERTISEMENT

TAMPA - The two boys were sitting together on a Hillsborough school bus when police say it happened.

One of the middle school students performed oral sex on the other. The boy later confessed to investigators, but police say no arrests were made in the case, which involved two mentally handicapped students.

Now the victim's mother wants the Hillsborough School Board to pay.

In a lawsuit, her attorney accuses school officials of negligence. The suit claims that the boy, identified as "JR," was allowed to continue riding the bus from Sligh Middle School. To avoid sharing the bus with him, the 13-year-old victim had to find alternate transportation to after-school programs.

Hillsborough school officials said they can't comment, citing pending litigation and student privacy. The State Attorney's Office said it can't discuss the 2005 case because it involves a juvenile.

"I still think of the anger and the shock of the mother who says it's unbelievable that she is trying to find alternative transportation for her child when the person who assaulted her child is still on the bus, still unsupervised and still riding with children," said James Robertson, the Miami-based attorney representing the victim's mother.

* * *

Hillsborough students are kicked off school buses all the time, and for a wide range of reasons.

During the 2005-06 school year, school officials reported more than 5,000 incidents for which students lost bus privileges for some period of time. The offenses ranged from hanging out the window to fighting. Six involved sexual harassment.

That same year, about 1,000 students with disabilities were suspended from the bus, according to a district report. It did not cite reasons.

The allegations in the sexual abuse lawsuit are complicated by the ages, disabilities and histories of the children.

Both students are mentally delayed and comprehend at the level of children half their age, according to a police report. At the time of the incident, JR could read at about a first-grade level. The victim, identified as "John Doe" in the lawsuit, has cerebral palsy. He functioned as a 6- to 8-year-old.

JR's great-grandmother told police that another allegation was made against him in the past. In that case, the parents did not want to prosecute, she said. She said JR was the victim of sexual abuse by children when he was younger.

Police records show he has been arrested twice in recent months for new sex-related offenses. His grandmother declined to comment.

* * *

The victim also has been troubled by at least one instance of past sexual abuse. That case was scheduled for trial in Alaska around the time of the Hillsborough school bus incident in September 2005, police reported.

"This action was much worse than the initial one," said Robertson, the Miami attorney. "It has really affected the boy. He's an incredibly nice child, but is fearful of all strangers, cries easily, is depressed and will curl up and is almost in a fetal position at times."

According to the police report, the Hillsborough incident occurred on a school bus over a Thursday and a Friday. The allegations came to light after the victim cried all weekend.

At first, the report says, he told his mother that the Disney movies he was watching made him sad. After talking more, he told her about the oral sex. He said he was scared to tell anyone.

The victim initially could not name the child who did it. Police noted that he could not distinguish between white and black people and described anyone with a tan as black. Eventually, he was able to help identify JR.

JR cried as he confessed in the presence of his great-grandmother, the police report says. He told police he made sure nobody saw him. He said "he just had the urge to do it and did it," according to the police report.

The child acknowledged he did not have to talk to officers, but police were concerned about his understanding. For that reason, no arrest was made at the time, they reported.

A driver and two attendants were on the school bus on both days. They told police they saw nothing out of the ordinary. They did not think the sexual abuse could have happened on such a short trip. One attendant estimated the ride was two to three minutes long, with the children onboard for about five minutes before departure.

In the report, police describe meeting with a school resource officer and a school administrator. Police advised "that the suspect should not be left alone with other children and should be monitored at all times."

The district already was aware of JR's problems, but didn't do anything to protect the victim and other children, Robertson claims in the lawsuit.

Robertson also said the school district did not help the victim's mother with her transportation needs. She had to take off work daily to pick up her child so he wouldn't have to ride with JR. The mother eventually switched jobs, and the child changed schools.

While district officials could not comment on the specifics of the case, they did point out their zero tolerance policy. It notes a 2001 state law that prohibits students who are found guilty of "specified felony violations" from riding on the same school bus as the victim.

In this case, the police report says the State Attorney's Office declined to prosecute.

Issues involving students with disabilities are often complicated.

Transportation may be required in the narrowly tailored educational plans that the district must implement for them. When conflicts arise between students, the district can consider a range of options, such as moving a child to another bus, if available, or moving them apart on the bus with close monitoring.

[Last modified October 19, 2007, 22:45:18]