Pennsylvania mother sues school over alleged assault of disabled daughter

• The mother of an intellectually disabled girl has filed a lawsuit alleging that three male students took her out of the schoolyard and sexually assaulted her.
• The lawsuit targets Starbucks, Pittsburgh Public Schools, and property management company 101 Kappa Drive Associates #1.
• The allegations include that school officials failed to provide adequate supervision and failed to provide security and training for staff.

The mother of an intellectually disabled girl who was allegedly taken from school grounds by three boys and sexually assaulted in a Starbucks bathroom and a nearby vacant building accused Starbucks, Pittsburgh Public Schools and the property management company of negligence Wednesday. filed a lawsuit.

The lawsuit alleges that Taylor Allderdice High School faculty and staff failed to provide adequate supervision and care for the girl during school hours and on her way to and from school. Owners of property management company 101 Kappa Drive Associates #1 and Starbucks are both aware that crime is on the rise in their neighborhoods, and have either failed to provide security for their employees or are willing to engage in criminal activity. They allege that they neglected to provide training on how to respond and report.

“Pittsburgh Public Schools knowingly failed to create a safe environment for my clients to get to and from school. Starbucks and Kappa also failed to create a safe environment for my clients to get to and from school. I failed to protect my client from the violence of others, even though I knew it was provoking a criminal act, the painful result of which was her sexual assault,'' the lawsuit states on behalf of the girl and her mother. said Alec Wright, a lawyer representing the people.

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The lawsuit alleges that the then-15-year-old girl, whose name is withheld in the lawsuit, was taken off-campus by three male students in October 2022. The lawsuit alleges that a Starbucks employee witnessed the male student take turns entering the restroom with a male student. She is a girl and did not intervene. The assailants then took her to a vacant building managed by Kappa, where a third boy sexually assaulted the girl, according to the lawsuit filed in Allegheny County Civil Court.

At first, the girl could not tell her mother what had happened to her. But a few days later, her mother received a call from the school saying that she had been found crying alone at the lunchroom table because of rumors that a female student had had sex with three male students. she said. Her mother met with school officials, and she said she was later informed that the incident occurred at a Starbucks and not at the school as officials initially suspected.

The girl's mother took her for a medical checkup and said there were signs of sexual assault. She reported the assault to police, but police have not filed charges more than a year later.

A spokesperson for the Pittsburgh Department of Public Safety said the case has been closed and the county district attorney's office has decided not to pursue charges.

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A message seeking comment was sent to Seattle-based Starbucks Corporate Communications. Kappa's phone number was not available, but The Associated Press left a message with the real estate company that handles rentals for Kappa's properties.

A Pittsburgh Public Schools spokesperson said the district does not comment on pending litigation.

Pittsburgh Public Schools offers public transportation bus passes to high school students who live within 2 miles of their school and to younger students who live within 2.4 miles of their school. At Taylor Allderdice High School, school district officials negotiated with Pittsburgh's public transit system to move the public transit bus stop used by many students to a location in front of a Starbucks.

According to the complaint, the girl's mother told school officials that her daughter needed help adjusting to high school and getting to school on public transportation. According to the complaint, the girl's IQ at the time of the evaluation was approximately 65, but on the second test she was below 60, placing her in the bottom 1% of students in terms of intellectual ability.

However, during her first few months at the high school, the girl was left unsupervised and was allowed to wander the hallways and hide in the bathroom during class, according to the complaint. The complaint alleges that due to her disability, rules regarding tardiness and attendance were not enforced, and that her staff did not watch her leave class or provide security surveillance while she was in class or on her way to and from the bus stop. He said he did not provide any.

The girl's mother said, “It makes me angry to know that there was so little supervision and protection for my daughter. If my daughter is going to school in the morning, she should be able to get home from school safely.'' “Taylor Alderdice lured her off campus and Starbucks assaulted her in the bathroom. The whole thing was really frustrating and discouraging. It's very hard to explain.”

The Associated Press does not publish the names of victims of sexual assault or abuse unless they come forward publicly. The names of the girl and her mother were withheld from the lawsuit to protect the girl's identity.

The suit alleges that the teens were given unrestricted access to the girl when they were able to take her to an off-campus Starbucks bus stop, but school officials say the student assault incident Despite knowing that traffic was on the rise, the agency did not provide any safety guards during key traffic hours. Violence and other negative activities.

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The month before the sexual assault occurred, a large group of students got into an argument at a bus stop. One police officer who tried to break up the fight was injured, and police shocked two students with Tasers during the incident.

Owners of stores in the same building as Starbucks have reported drug and vandalism problems, including customer harassment, storefront windows being smashed, and students challenging management to fights. At least one business owner asked the school district to move the bus stop during the school board meeting.

The lawsuit alleges that Starbucks and Kappa failed to create policies or provide training for employees to protect their own safety and the safety of patrons, and that they failed to implement safety measures such as posting security guards during busy times. It alleges that by failing to take action, it failed to address well-known problems of crime, violence and mischief. times.

The lawsuit alleges that Starbucks employees gave students almost unlimited access to the restroom, in part because the students increased sales for the store.