Lawsuit accuses Las Vegas students, CCSD staff of sharing nude photos of child with learning disabilities
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – A disturbing lawsuit accuses students and staff at a Las Vegas-area middle school of sharing nude photos of a fellow student with a learning disability. The victim's family alleges the child no longer wants to attend school and accuses the Clark County School District of failing to protect him. The lawsuit was filed last week on Friday in Clark County District Court. It alleges that an eighth grader with autism stepped into a bathroom in March at Roy Martin Middle School, which is located near Stewart and 28th Street. According to the lawsuit, it alleges that a classmate went into the restroom knowing he was there, took photos of his private parts, and then shared them.
All this allegedly happened while the child's school aide waited outside. "The grandmother raised concerns that bullying was a problem. The teacher had also raised concerns that bullying was a problem," Samuel Castor, of the law firm Lex Tecnica said. Castor represents C.S. and his family. "They understood that this child was vulnerable, at risk," Castor said.
The child is no longer enrolled at Roy Martin Middle School. The lawsuit alleges the student took photos of C.S. with his pants down when he was in the restroom and "then shared the photos via group chat and/or social media to several persons who in turn, shared them with other persons." "So now you have an image that's extremely traumatizing. It doesn't matter if you're autistic or if you're disabled, you're going to feel shame and embarrassment over something like that, and that's what this poor kid experienced," Castor said. According to the lawsuit, one of the students involved was kicked out of Roy Martin Middle School. The lawsuit also stated that another situation also allegedly took place. A staff member "air dropped" the photos to her personal phone and emailed them to a CCSD officer, who reprimanded the staff member for redistributing the photos, according to the lawsuit. "When the teachers found out about it, making matters even worse, instead of shutting it down and reporting it to the authorities and making sure the photo doesn't spread, the teachers are passing the photos to each other," Castor said. "That's not what the law allows, that's not how they should've been behaving," he added. "It's something that's criminal." The family of C.S. said they had not seen any of the photos to this day that they claimed were circulated online and at the school, according to the lawsuit. They also don't know if any staff members were charged with a crime. In a response seeking comment, CCSD told 8 News Now the district has a policy of not responding to pending litigation.
