A trial is concluding in a lawsuit against the Riverside Unified School District that alleges a kindergarten student was sexually assaulted by another girl on a school playground after school officials ignored her mother’s complaints that her daughter previously had been assaulted by that same classmate.
The lawsuit, filed in 2018 on behalf of the girl’s mother by Long Beach attorney Jeremy D. Jass, seeks unspecified damages and accuses the district of negligence, sexual battery and infliction of emotional stress. The lawsuit also accuses Tomas Rivera Elementary officials of failing to obtain statements from witnesses and destroying evidence.
The district’s attorney, in the response filed in Superior Court in Riverside, said only the other child was responsible for the victim’s injuries, that school officials were unaware of the mother’s complaints and that school employees “exercised reasonable diligence,” to protect the girl, identified in court records only as R.S., now 6 years old.
The mother, whose name is not being published because it could serve to identify her daughter, said in the lawsuit that her daughter was bitten and scratched on separate days by the other girl — identified in court records as Jane Doe — early in 2017.
The mother said she then complained to school officials.
“After these incidents, R.S.’s mother was assured by (Tomas Rivera) teachers and employees that Jane Doe and R.S. would not be left alone together,” the lawsuit says.
Instead, one day in April, the two girls wound up together in a play tunnel where, out of sight of school staff, Jane Doe sexually assaulted R.S. and warned her not to scream or tell her parents or teachers, the lawsuit says.
While bathing her daughter later that day, the mother noticed injuries. The daughter said someone hurt her but added that she wasn’t allowed to tell her parents or teachers. The mother learned her daughter’s secret when the girl agreed to tell her older sister while the mother eavesdropped, the lawsuit says.
Doctors confirmed the injuries, which included swelling, scratches and bruises, the lawsuit says.
Riverside police investigated the incident, said Officer Ryan Railsback, a department spokesman. Under California law, no one under 14 can be arrested, Railsback said. Both families were referred to counseling resources. The victim is now attending school out of state.
The lawsuit is reminiscent of the one against the Moreno Valley Unified School District, in which the family of Landmark Middle School student Diego Stolz alleges that school employees failed to act on warnings from Diego’s family that he was being bullied. Just days after the warnings in September 2019, two students attacked Diego, rendering him unconscious. Diego, 13, died eight days after the beating.
The Moreno Valley district is contesting the lawsuit.
In the lawsuit against Riverside Unified, the school district’s attorneys on Jan. 6 — more than a month after the non-jury trial began — filed a motion asking Judge Jackson Lucky to turn off the streaming audio that is allowing the public to listen to court hearings during the coronavirus pandemic, court records show. Riverside County courthouses have largely been closed to observers for safety reasons.
Lucky denied the motion.
Assistant Superintendent Tim Walker on Thursday, Jan. 21, citing the ongoing trial, declined to explain why the district didn’t want the public to listen to the hearings.
Closing arguments in the case are expected Monday or Tuesday.
