14-year-old Black student and his mother file $10M claim against LAUSD after attacks, lawyers say
A $10 million claim has been filed against the Los Angeles Unified School District after a 14-year-old Black student said he was targeted in repeated racist attacks at Verdugo Hills High School in Tujunga, according to the student’s mother and lawyers.
The student was attacked multiple times on school grounds, at a nearby park and at his home, which was tagged with racial slurs, the lawyer, Brad Gage, said at a news conference on Friday, Dec. 20. He included videos of two physical fights involving the teenager and others in his announcement. A claim is a precursor to a lawsuit.
The teen had been arrested after one of those fights and was accused of assault with a deadly weapon, according to his attorneys, who said he was acting in self-defense.
Los Angeles police on Friday said they responded to the school on Dec. 9 on a call about a stabbing, that two victims were transported to the hospital, and about 20 minutes later, a “male juvenile” was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon. They did not describe the weapon. A previous report said the two stabbed did not have life-threatening injuries.
Gage said he sent the claim to the school district on Thursday, Dec. 19. He put the “total estimated dollar amount of future damages” to the boy at $10 million.
The claim states that the attorney and mother believe LAUSD is responsible because the district “had prior knowledge and notice of injuries and failed to protect (the teen)” as required by law.
The claim also alleges violations of the Education Code, including negligence and failing to provide adequate supervision, as well as “intentional infliction of emotional distress, assault (and) battery,” referencing two California laws that protect from the use of force and violence based on race and interfering with constitutional rights.
A district spokesman declined to respond to the allegations, saying only, “Los Angeles Unified does not comment on pending or ongoing litigation.”
In one video of an attack that Gage says happened at the end of August 2024, shortly after the student began attending Verdugo Hills High School, the teen is seen in a school bathroom in a fight with at least two other males, with a third recording.
The student is seen being punched, kicked and pushed to the ground as the person recording can be heard encouraging the others to continue attacking him, while using a racial slur and other expletives. At one point, the person recording walks up to the boys fighting and begins to kick the 14-year-old student. Gage said the video was posted online.
The 14-year-old’s mother, who did not provide her name because of safety concerns, said she went to the school after the August fight occurred but “they didn’t care.” The claim filed by Gage on behalf of the student and his mother states the student was suspended for three days following the bathroom fight, while no action was taken against the other students.
“I know some of you may ask, well, why didn’t you take him out of school? The school wanted to basically force my child out right after the incident happened of him being jumped in the bathroom. They wanted him to leave the school without giving any disciplinary action towards the students that actually caused the problem themselves,” the mother said.
A second video, which Gage says occurred earlier on the day of the alleged stabbing, shows the 14-year-old and another boy punching at one another, with others joining in and the 14-year-old eventually being pushed into a vending machine. An adult voice saying “You guys can handle it after school,” can be heard in the background. A woman wearing a neon vest, who Gage said was a safety monitor, approaches the boys and attempts to put her hand in front of one as they continue fighting.
“Eventually, he leaves school, in fear of his life,” Gage said. “A car with four more individuals comes after him, one of the individuals in that car comes out with a large butcher knife and tries to kill our client, who was fast enough to run away and hide,” Gage said.
The teen’s defense attorney, Caree Harper, said a hearing is scheduled for the 14-year-old boy in juvenile court in February.
Gage wants the other students involved in the fights to be prosecuted. “He was a young student who happened to be Black in a school that has almost no Black people and this has all the elements of racial profiling, racial harassment and a hate crime, and certainly I’d like to see the district attorney’s office prosecuting these folks for their hate crimes on my client,” he said.
Black students make up 1.5% of the student body at Verdugo Hills High School, according to 2023-2024 enrollment data from California Department of Education.
Gage and the student’s mother stated that the school was aware of the previous fights months ago, when administrators met with the student’s mother. He also said the school and police had been advised that their home was tagged with a racial slur.
“With the school refusing to take corrective action, the students and their ‘colleagues’ are now congregating where the plaintiffs live,” the claim read in part.
“Why is this young man facing assault with a deadly weapon charge when he merely defended himself?” Harper said. “Self Defense is allowable.”
Gage and the child’s mother say they have not gotten a response from the high school or school district as of Friday and were disappointed in the lack of action taken by officials.
“If they took proper action way back in August, early September, there would be no stabbing in December,” Gage said.
Previously published in the Los Angeles Daily News and written by Sierra van der Brug.