Family of Teenage Boy Sues Los Angeles School After Bullying Incident Allegedly Caused Brain Damage

Written by @saywooord

Family of a young vulnerable boy is now suing Animo Westside Middle School after a bullying attack left him with “permanent traumatic brain and cervical injuries.”

The January 2018 attack at the charter school was captured on surveillance cameras, along with footage of the staff’s response to the incident, according to ABC News. 

The video shows the then 12-year-old, sixth-grade victim being attacked by the 14-year-old eighth-grader, a student who the victim’s attorney, Ben Meiselas, says had a “prior history of violence towards others.”

Several students were seen crowding around the boy and his attacker, as a school staff member is also seen pausing at the scene but walking away without intervention.

The boy, who fell in and out of consciousness, suffered seizures during and after the attack ended, according to the complaint.

The video also shows the attacker attempt to help the 12-year-old, “nervous that he had killed” the boy, Meiselas says.

The mother of the victim, who graciously asked that both boys be unidentified, showed up to the school 20 minutes later, at which only then were emergency services called at her request, according to the filing. 

The complaint states the mother had no initial intel that her son had been attacked, explaining she thought he only experienced a seizure until she saw the attack on the surveillance tape. When she asked for a recording, she was allegedly given a clip from a different day and a shorter clip that was “deceptively edited,” their lawyer said. 

The complaint also states the boy has “regressed socially, emotionally [and] academically” as a result of the traumatic experience, now suffering from narcolepsy, a qualifying post-traumatic sleep disorder. 

Dr. Morteza Shamsnia, a chief neurologist at Tulane Medical School, said in the lawsuit that he will likely have to seek treatment for the effects of the incident for the remainder of his life.

“The staff did everything wrong, every step of the way, and showed a callous disregard for my 12-year-old client’s life and well-being,” Meiselas stated. “The School and Green Dot miserably failed my client, who will now suffer permanent brain damage for the rest of his life. This is unacceptable and every adult working for this school should be haunted by their conduct for the rest of their lives.”