Posted on 12/06/2012 6:06:56 PM PST by grundle
CHICAGO (CBS) – The parents of a 15-year old boy who was allegedly strip-searched at a high school last month have filed a lawsuit against the Chicago Public Schools.
In an exclusive interview with CBS 2 Investigator Pam Zekman, the boy and his outraged parents described what happened.
“He came home crying. So I asked him why he was crying,” said the boy’s father, Anthony Woodman. “And he was like hysterical. He tells me he’s been strip-searched.”
It allegedly happened at Taft High school last month.
His mother, Michelle Woodman said she contacted the CBS2 Investigators “so this doesn’t happen to anyone else. No one should go through what our son went through.”
The student said two security guards, a Chicago police officer and a female assistant principal took him from an room where he was serving an “in school suspension” to a nearby washroom on the second floor.
Asked if the officer or assistant principal said anything, the student said, “They told me they had an anonymous tip. They were looking for drugs.”
He said, while the others watched, one of the security guards put him up against the wall of a bathroom stall so his back was to the guards.
“And then he searched me with my clothes on,” the boy said. “Then he told me to remove my belt. As I undid my belt he pulled my pants and underwear down to my knees.”
After that, “He started grabbing and searching my privates,” the boy said.
He said they did not find any drugs.
Records the Woodmans provided said CPS staff diagnosed their son with an emotional disorder and learning disability. He requires special education services.
Misconduct reports detail behavioral problems leading to numerous suspensions, some contested by his parents.
As for the strip search, his father said “there needs to be consequences for what they did to him.”
Now his parents are suing everyone allegedly involved, and Chicago Public Schools and City of Chicago.
“What we are claiming is that his civil rights were violated when he was strip searched without cause and unreasonably,” said Julie Herrera, the Woodman’s attorney.
“The way it was done was outrageous,” Herrera said. “Having a 15-year-old boy have to have a woman – an older woman – watch him with his pants down, while he is touched by another man. I think is horribly humiliating and embarrassing.”
His mother said it was humiliating for her son, and it has adversely affected him.
“He is very withdrawn. He sleeps with his clothes on. He’s had nightmares,” said Michelle Woodman. “He is very angry. He’s depressed. He is just not the same person.”
The assistant principal who allegedly watched the strip search declined to comment, referring questions to the Chicago Public School’s law department.
A CPS spokeswoman said their policy is that “under no circumstances are strip searches of students allowed on CPS premises.”
The CPS policy manual also prohibits “washroom searches.”
Spokeswomen for both CPS and the Chicago Police Department said they cannot comment on this case until their investigation is complete.
You mean ask a lawyer?
As slimey as a lot of them are, there’s few other practical ways. Don’t be afraid to get multiple opinions, like you would from doctors for something important. Many will see you a first time for little or nothing especially if they stand to get a piece of the pie. Don’t let yourself be talked into something obviously idiotic, but be smart.
Among the little secrets about public schools today: Over the past 2 decades, most of the staffing increases have been in non-teaching positions, particularly counselors and administrators. Schools have a vested interest in finding "disabilities" in as many students as possible because the funds they get from the state are greater for every "diagnosed" student than for a non-diagnosed student. Thus they hire "evaluators" instead of teachers... because it brings in more money to the school system, as they find ANYTHING in the DSM IV to assign to a child. (Kids used to hate the stigma, but not in today's culture. They get extra perks, like leaving class MUCH more frequently, even during tests, to get assistance from the cute young SPED teachers. The parents no longer mind the diagnoses, because their kids get individual attention, and their grades usually go up.)
It has nothing to do with teaching, or proper diagnosis, or the child's best interests... and everything to do with revenue enhancement.
It’s doubtful her guardians will do anything like sue, but I will try and talk them into asking a lawyer
Move the kid as far away from his molesters as possible. Best of luck with the lawsuits. Do whatever it takes to stop this from being repeated.
Ultimately it’s up to the parents/guardians, but if this impacted her in more than a transient manner, if issues related to it are still cropping up and haunting her, then it can’t hurt to suggest looking for both sensible child counselors AND (inasmuch as it isn’t an oxymoron) ethical attorneys. Something has to pay for the counseling. If it’s a health insurance company who paid, in fact, they might have the right to sue on her behalf whether she wants it or not.
Did they(the cops and the school representative) find what they were looking for?
Because this article, as posted, doesn’t make that point clear...
Parents would never, ever use their own “troubled children” as mules in drug deals...right?
Laws about this don’t declare such verboten actions justified based on the outcome, and for good reason. If they did, goodbye to what little is left of the 4th Amendment.
They did this with no evidence of any kind except some vague “anonymous tip”, which they might have just made up.
Checking his locker and backpack and pockets might be okay, but they had better get his parents’ permission and hopefully presence before doing something like this.
No.
Because this article, as posted, doesn’t make that point clear...
He said they did not find any drugs.
I would say that is fairly straight forward.
Parents would never, ever use their own “troubled children” as mules in drug deals...right?
School house perverts would never ever molest their "troubled students"... right?
Oh... wait.... they were just helping him celebrate diversity! That's the ticket!
Why people let their children go to these hell holes is beyond me.
Squeezum, Bear.
It happened on Monday
Smacking a kid on the hand with a ruler = evil. Restraining a child who is kicking his teacher and/or classmates = assault. Strip searching a student on an anonymous tip = sensible response.
These places are mental institutions for the criminally insane. The children are herded through the doors to provide a captive audience, unlimited playthings, and daily sacrifices.
Even if it turns out that this boy is a troublemaker spoiled brat type “diagnosed” with some bogus problem, that is no excuse for sexual abuse. This is molestation under the color of authority. Predators target the weak and defenseless.
Look what TSA does in full view of the traveling public. What will they do if (when) the airport scanners are redesigned as privacy booths?
Well, be a wise uncle and keep your eyes open. Some children can bounce back with no visible ill effect, and there’s nothing wrong with gently pointing out that it’s not the wisest thing to say something “really stupid” in public (especially if something dangerous is being hinted) as one could get taken seriously in this antsy era we live in. But if the child is obviously bugged, or begins to act bizarrely, for a long time, something more could be afoot here.
It was one thing my husband and I disagreed on before marriage, he thought that public schools were basically good. I was prepared to live under a bridge if necessary to keep my children out of those places.
The issue turned out to be moot but he is slowing coming to see I was not quite as far off my rocker on the subject as he thought.
I’m cheering ya on Bear.
Well done, Harmless Teddy Bear.
“He wasn’t strip searched he was a VICTIM OF SEXUAL MOLESTATION...”
EXACTLY. If any body else did this they would spend the rest of their lives on the sex offender list.
One of his ‘peers’ set this kid up, and the stupid ‘authorities’ were more than happy to comply.
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