Five-year old boy raped by 2 fifth grade boys, family sues Board of Ed

Cleveland Plain Dealer ^ | 10/17/02 | James F. McCarty

[fone]

(Link may expire)

One day after school, she later recalled, the boy came home with a broken belt. Another time, his underpants were on backward and soiled.

On April 21, the grandmother said, she overheard the boy ask his 8-year-old brother to "get the two fifth-graders that are hurting me." When she questioned the boy, he told a horrific story.

Over the previous month, two older classmates - one 10, the other 11 - repeatedly raped him in the school lavatory. They yanked down his pants and, as one boy held him, the other sodomized him, the little boy said.

The boy later told police that the two older boys raped him about 10 times. When he tried to tell a teacher about the attacks, she rebuffed him: "No tattle-tales," she said, according to the police report.

Yesterday, the boy and his mother filed a $2 million lawsuit against the Cleveland Board of Education, accusing school administrators of negligence for failing to provide security adequate to prevent the rapes.

"To think that this sort of thing could go on in a school is unbelievable," said Maple Heights attorney David Pomerantz, who represents the boy and his mother. "It's unconscionable that this happened to him, but it's equally unconscionable that a school would allow it to happen. Obviously, they should be supervising kids better in bathrooms."

Reports of the sexual attacks first came to light on April 22, when the boy's grandmother took him to Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital and a doctor there called police.

Detectives from the police Sex Crimes Unit investigated, and the boy's accused attackers were charged with rape in Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court. They are awaiting trial.

Pomerantz said a case worker from Children and Family Services substantiated the boy's allegations. An agency spokesman, however, said there was no record of the case being investigated or reported.

Schools spokesman Dan Minnich said neither of the boys accused in the case currently attends Cleveland schools. One has been placed at the Berea Children's Home; Minnich didn't know the other's whereabouts. As soon as the allegations were raised, he said, the district launched an internal investigation with Cleveland police, and the boys were removed from Charles Dickens.

Ward 3 City Councilman Zachary Reed, who represents the Mount Pleasant neighborhood around the school, said the allegations are shocking, but shouldn't detract from the area's revitalization.

"Anything can happen in a big-league city," he said. "We need to ensure that nothing like this ever happens in a school here ever again."

[johnb838]

I am sorry, but I don't fall into the thinking line of holding children responsible as adults when they commit a crime. Especially not 10 and 11 year old children. I also do not believe that long term juvenile incarceration is the answer for a child this young either

Oh come on... the first responsibility is to put these monkeys (sub-human primates) in a place where they can be supervised so they do not re-offend with another tiny child. Unfortunately I'm not sure juvie is a place that would stop them from victimizing others but I don't know a better place. You let them go they will think they got away with it and do it again and again and again. Not to mention other little animals.

[DWSUWF]

"...How about burying the teach up to his or her waist and then letting people throw stones at him/her until dead...

The G.D. moslems have ruined this classic crowd pleaser for me.

Some of my ancestors would do a variation of this where you were up to your neck and ants paid your head a visit. I like that.

Ideally a teacher who failed to do all she could to protect a little boy in her charge, such as in this case, should be confined in an environment where he or she could be savagely victimized by sexual predators...

For an indefinite period of time.

[johnb838]

The G.D. moslems have ruined this classic crowd pleaser for me.

LOLOL I like the way you think! Actually I think hanging is best. Sufficiently horrific for the onlookers to serve as a good example, yet not really cruel and unusual if the neck is snapped. Now letting them dangle is another story. ;-\

[DWSUWF]

"...Now letting them dangle is another story..."

Think of 'dangling' as a sentence enhancement.

[Tired of Taxes]

"To think that this sort of thing could go on in a school is unbelievable,"

I had a friend in second grade who was repeatedly raped in our school's bathroom, too... by a school employee! And, I suspect these things go on between children at school more often than we'd like to think is possible. (Another reason why I'm homeschooling my kids, at least until they're big enough to fight someone off).

[F.J. Mitchell]

It is too late for these non-humans, they do not deserve any mercy or help-who can restore their victim, spiritually, mentally, emotionally to what he was before their assaults?

Conservatives believe we can and should turn our own other cheek as a rule-we don't claim the right to turn the other cheek of victims who have been brutalized by monsters wearing human skins.

[fone]

Worth repeating: What exactly is an appropriate sexual act?

(My spouse wants to know ;-)

[fone]

>>>I have a C note that says I know the race of these little animals<<<

Keep it. You win.

[fone]

>>>I had a friend in second grade who was repeatedly raped in our school's bathroom, too... by a school employee! <<<

Please tell me this employee has been tried and convicted.

[GovernmentShrinker]

Why? I'm not saying it's good thing. Just that according to the facts you presented, it was accepted and voluntarily participated in by a large number of young boys at this school. What happened to the kid in the article at the beginning of this thread was not; it was a case of bullies brutally taking advantage of a smaller, weaker child who not cooperating in any way.

[Tired of Taxes]

Please tell me this employee has been tried and convicted.

He was tried and convicted. But, sadly, my friend herself was tried and convicted among her peers; that is, she earned an undeserved "bad reputation" after the incident became public, and that reputation followed her all the way into high school until she finally dropped out. She was only 8-years-old at the time of the incident, but that didn't seem to matter to the boys whispering about her.

There are very few crimes more horrific than sex crimes against children. My guess is that this 5-year-old boy has also gained an undeserved reputation among his classmates as a result of the rape, and they're going to be picking on him for a long time... Kids can be cruel.

[Texas Mom]

You were saying that the 1st grader enjoyed it, told my son who was 3 at the time about it and he was looking forward to it. The thing is, both young boys were innocent and the first grader was told, that's what you do when you do to school. Maybe he thought it was condoned by the school and maybe Mom forgot to mention it. Children at that age have no idea about these things. Your theory sounds too Kinsey-ish to me.

[MortMan]

At the risk of seeming insensitive, prior victimization of the perpetrators doesn't change their accountability for their actions. It does mean that they should get counseling while they serve their term is whatever facility, after conviction.

[PleaseNoMore]

I believe that prior victimization does influence behavior, especially that of children. I do not believe that it absolves these boys from their involvement in their father's murder.I agree that there should be punishment but I also believe that these boys need some intensive help from some source to not only cope with what they did or were involved in but so that they may be of some productivity when released. I do not believe that locking them away till they are old is the answer. For them or for any child.

[Bush2000]

Notice they didn't say anything about the status of the teacher. No doubt the teacher's unions will go to bat for her. After all, we can't have tattletales, can we?

[GovernmentShrinker]

I gathered from your story that the first grader had experienced this, not just heard about it. Kids enjoy doing all sorts of naughty things, and if a group of kids are doing something naughty, and none of them ever complain to parents or teachers, then it's a pretty safe bet they're enjoying it. And the friend in college I mentioned on another post told me he and his little early grade school buddies sure enjoyed it, and in that case it was only 1st and 2nd graders involved. What I'm pointing out is the difference between those situations, and the one described in the article. They aren't remotely comparable.

[Salvation]

Did you see this thread?

[Registered]

LarryLied signed up 1998-03-26.
This account has been banned.

[fone]

>>>Kids can be cruel.<<<

Understatement of the year.