Attack on Puyallup student was recorded. Now, school district will pay $50K
The Puyallup School District will pay $50,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by a former Glacier View Junior High student who was the victim of a video-recorded assault in a school bathroom, court records show.
The student, who’s of southeast Asian descent and now in high school, and her parents sued the district last year alleging that PSD failed to protect the girl from racial targeting and bullying previously reported by her parents.
“While the district firmly denies the allegations, we agreed to a settlement to resolve the matter in lieu of costly, extended litigation,” PSD spokesperson Sarah Gillispie said in a statement Wednesday. “This resolution was reached solely as a practical measure and does not represent an admission of wrongdoing.”
A 50-second video clip provided to The News Tribune last year by the family’s attorney, Thad Martin, showed the student inside a bathroom stall in February 2023. While someone filmed, another girl hanging over a stall border can be seen throwing roughly six punches down toward the victim’s head. A handful of girls appeared to be spectating in the bathroom and someone can be heard yelling, “Get her!,” as the first punch was thrown.
The assailant also grabbed the victim’s hair and slammed her head against the inside stall wall more than once, according to court records. The video was later shown to other students, and the victim continued to be harassed by those involved, the lawsuit said.
PSD was accused of not requesting medical attention or informing the girl’s parents about the attack. Her injuries were minimal, court records show.
“I think it was a reasonable settlement for what occurred in this case,” Martin said in an interview Wednesday. “I think we made our point to the Puyallup School District that they need to be more careful to the supervision of the students in their control and take parents’ complaints more seriously.”
PSD argued that the assailant had no history of dangerous behavior, meaning it couldn’t have reasonably anticipated she posed a risk of harm to other students, and no one informed staff beforehand that a fight might occur, court records show.
Court documents filed in late March, before the settlement was finalized on April 17, noted certain challenges to the plaintiffs’ case.
It appeared the victim instigated the fight through texts and verbal statements before and on the day of the assault, according to a filing by an outside attorney tasked with overseeing the settlement due to the girl’s age.
The victim allegedly had been bullied prior to the incident for her braided hairstyle and accused of culture misappropriation. PSD was accused of failing to act when it was told that she was being subjected to racial comments and threats.
While the girl’s father verbally complained roughly a year prior to the attack that students were bullying his daughter, none of those students were involved in the February 2023 altercation, the outside attorney’s filing said.
After the girl’s parents, following the assault, submitted a written complaint about the previous school year’s bullying, Glacier View Junior High School immediately disciplined several students, according to the filing. The district also created a support plan to assist the girl in returning to campus, the filing said.
Martin told The News Tribune that he had no immediate information about his client’s reported instigation of the incident but, regardless, he said the district at all times must protect students under its watch and ensure students are adequately supervised.
“There’s no wiggle room in that,” he said.
