CHELSEA HS ‘SEX ATTACK’
Sicko taped it: suit
An 11th-grader at one of New York City’s top nonspecialized public schools claims she was sexually assaulted in a bathroom by a classmate who videotaped the incident and sent the recording around to other students, according to a new lawsuit.
The teen girl, identified as “Jane Doe,” was grilled about the video by the assistant principal at the NYC Lab School for Collaborative Studies — without her parents, a school counselor or the police being notified, the Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit alleges.
“Without regard to the status of [Doe] as an underaged victim of sexual assault or her apparent emotional and psychological trauma, [the assistant principal] forced [her] to write a statement describing her sexual assault,” the suit charges.
Doe says that “unbeknownst” to her, a male student at the West 17th Street school in Chelsea followed her into the firstfloor girls bathroom on Nov. 4, 2021, where he sexually assaulted her. There was no security guard or bathroom monitor and the teen boy announced himself standing between her and the bathroom exit, the suit claims.
The alleged attacker — identified as “N.R.” in the court papers — “demanded” that the girl give him oral sex, which she told him she didn’t want to do, according to the lawsuit.
N.R. “forced [her] into the a bathroom stall,” pushed her onto the ground, “held the back of her head” forcing her into the sex act, all without her consent, the lawsuit alleges. Later that day, Doe discovered that N.R. had recorded the incident with his cellphone and sent it to other students, the court papers say.
The assistant principal found out about N.R.’s video and he pulled Doe out of class to question her about it, the suit claims.
The girl and her father — identified in court papers as Joe Doe — claim the school was negligent in failing to protect her, especially since her dad had reported previously that his daughter was a victim of bullying and had been physically assaulted by another student in October 2019, the court papers claim.
Doe’s dad had even requested that she be transferred after the prior incident, but the assistant principal — who is not named as a defendant in the suit — didn’t approve the move, the filing claims.
The school was also negligent in failing to properly investigate and report the sexual assault and failing to supervise the hallways and bathrooms, the suit claims.
And it also knew that N.R. was a problem student who “had a reputation for engaging in dangerous behaviors,” the lawsuit alleges.
The dad and daughter are suing the city and the Department of Education for unspecified damages.
The Post found in December 2021 that NYC Lab was one of the Big Apple’s top 12 best non-specialized schools — with a 98% graduation rate.
The city Law Department, the DOE and the assistant principal, Jason Koch all did not return requests for comment Tuesday.