Brooklyn School Suspended Intellectually Disabled Student Who Was Gang-Raped, Lawsuit Alleges

An intellectually disabled teen who was gang-raped by a group of students at a school in Brooklyn, New York, on Feb. 5, 2016, was suspended as the school authorities tried to keep the case hidden, a federal lawsuit stated, Thursday.

According to an exclusive report by the New York Daily News, the girl who chose to be anonymous, was forced into a stairwell in the school and made to perform sex acts on a group of male students, the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit described the whole incident. On Feb. 5, 2016, the girl was going to meet a teacher when she was surrounded by a group of seven male students. She was then pulled by the arm by one of the attackers into a stairwell which was not supervised.

She was forced to go down on her knees and was coerced to perform sex acts on two male students.

The lawsuit also stated that the girl had an IQ of 71 and her disciplinary record in the school was flawless.

The girl reported the incident after six days to a counselor in the school. However, after a day’s investigation, school authorities came to a decision that the sexual act was consensual in nature and decided to suspend the victim.

Carrie Goldberg, the attorney who handling the case said: "My client is a 15-year-old girl of color on public assistance with a severe developmental disorder who was gang raped at her Brooklyn school and then suspended for it."

Goldberg also stated that her client's suspension took place despite the fact that one of the accused male students was arrested by police authorities.

The NY Daily report stated that Education Department officials didn’t mention the fact whether any of the male attackers were suspended or not, citing laws of privacy.

The report stated that one of the attackers was charged with sexual misconduct and sexual assault but since the case was sealed, the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office didn’t give any details regarding the result of the charges.

The officials at the Education Department took back the suspension order given to the girl but the victim did not recover to her previous normal condition, the report said.

The victim suffers from sleeplessness, hair loss, anger issues, extreme anxiety, skin rashes and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) along with other injuries.

However, such incidents are not isolated in New York. A similar incident happened in December when a 16-year-old teen was raped in a New York City (NYC) public school on Washington Irving Campus by her fellow 18-year-old classmate, reported CBS News.

The accused, identified as Jevon Martin, forced the girl to the floor, pulled down her pants and raped her, in the fourth floor stairwell of the school, as stated in the criminal complaint.

According to police authorities, the victim was lured into the stairwell area after he held her backpack and ran with it behind the staircase.

One of the students of the school said: "Things happen in the stairwell in the building like a lot. So I wouldn’t think it would be rape."