Lawsuit Claims 13-Year Old Sexually Assaulted As School Team Looked On
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- A former student of a South Florida school has filed a lawsuit, years after he said he was sexually assaulted as a 13-year old.
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday, says the former Westminster Christian Private School student, only identified as John Doe, was bullied, hazed and sexually assaulted by a group of boys who were students at the school in January 2006.
The complaint states the 13-year old was walking out of the boy's locker room when a high school senior grabbed and held him down against his will.
That's when, the lawsuit claims, a high school sophmore "dropped his shorts and underwear to expose his penis."
During the alleged assault, one of the older students allegedly used his penis to touch the victim.
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"One of the older boys then penis "whipped" JOHN. In the course of this assault, the older boy hit JOHN's face with his penis; rubbed his penis on JOHN's face and hair; poked JOHN's ear with his penis; hit JOHN's nose with his penis; and, rubbed his penis on JOHN's lips, mouth and teeth," states the complaint.
The school's wrestling team, according to the complaint, surrounded the victim during the alleged assault and yelled "take it [expletive]" and "you can't do [explitive]."
Following the alleged incident, the team later harassed the victim with "homosexual slurs," according to the complaint.
The lawsuit alleges there were other incidents including one in which he was forced to jump into a canal with only his underwear.
As part of the lawsuit, the victim's side says the school "owed a duty to protect students such as JOHN" from the various incidents he allegedly experienced and that the school staff failed to properly supervise the students and prevent the alleged incidents.
In response to the lawsuit, school officials issued a statement on Tuesday saying, "Westminster takes the safety of all our students very seriously. We act swiftly when the safety of any student is threatened. When this incident was reported in 2006, we immediately responded to ensure the well-being of this student. Due to pending litigation, we are not at liberty to discuss the details of the case."
