Parents of teen who drowned settle suit
Boy died in swim class as teacher looked at phone
The San Ramon Valley Unified School District agreed to pay the parents of a 15yearold Danville boy who drowned during his high school swim class $8 million in a settlement, the attorney for the student’s parents said Monday.
Benjamin Curry died May 8, 2018, as he and 56 other students were instructed to tread water for 3 minutes at the end of their San Ramon Valley High School physical education class. Curry dropped underwater and drowned after PE teacher and head varsity football coach Aaron Becker — who was standing on a diving board looking at his cell phone — added 30 more seconds to the exercise as punishment after students touched lane lines, according to Karen and Thomas Curry’s lawsuit.
“The Currys are relieved the litigation is over, but the pain will never end,” said Andrew Schwartz, the family’s attorney.
The Currys sued the district and Becker for wrongful death in November 2018 in Contra Costa County Superior Court. The case was set to go to trial Feb 17.
Mark Davis, an attorney representing the district, said he could not comment on the
settlement because the final closing documents had not yet been signed, so it was still ongoing litigation.
The teen drowned during his fourthperiod PE class on the Danville campus, and a video surveillance camera captured the event, according to the lawsuit. The footage showed Becker standing on a diving board looking at his cell phone, about 15 feet away from a struggling Curry. The children left the pool and Curry’s body was not discovered until the next class came to use the facility, the lawsuit alleged.
The district’s attorney has said in the past that Becker was not talking on his phone or texting before the incident.
The lawsuit alleged there were no lifeguards at the pool to assist Becker in supervising the dozens of students. And Becker’s lifeguard certification expired in March 2018, two months before Curry’s drowning.
In the months following Curry’s death, district superintendent Rick Schmitt released an apology to the Curry family and clarified that Benjamin’s death was accidental after rumors trickled out that his death may have been a suicide. The family was upset that the district didn’t quash those rumors earlier, even after they viewed the surveillance video and received the coroner’s report ruling the boy’s death an accident.
Becker’s attorney could not be reached for comment.