The family of a 14-year-old girl who was the victim of a sexual assault in a Fairfield Central High School classroom in March has filed a lawsuit against the Fairfield County School District.
The lawsuit, filed April 16 in the Fairfield County Court of Common Pleas, claims gross negligence as well as common law negligence on the part of the district and seeks damages for both, to be determined by a jury.
The suit stems from a March 12 incident at Fairfield Central High School that occurred after a teacher, identified in the court documents as Ken Floyd, left his classroom unsupervised for approximately half an hour. During that time period, the victim was assaulted by three male students who reportedly pulled down the victim’s shirt, exposed and fondled her breast and took photographs of her exposed breast with a cell phone camera.
The male students were arrested by the Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office two days later and charged with first degree assault and battery. Two of the subjects pleaded guilty in Family Court on March 19 and were sentenced to nine months’ probation. The third subject was scheduled to appear in Family Court May 2. According to the lawsuit documents, Floyd resigned from the high school on or about March 22.
Austin and Rogers, the Columbia law firm handling the case for the victim, would not comment on the lawsuit. Efforts to reach the Fairfield County School District for comment were also unsuccessful at press time.