A lawsuit was filed on behalf of two Black siblings who say the Lancaster School District did not do enough to stop the bullying of them by other students, including the videotaping of one of them as he urinated that was posted and went viral on social media.
The boy is identified as M.T.D. and his sister M.N.D. in their Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit, which alleges a host of claims that include negligence, disability discrimination (M.T.D. is autistic) gender violence, civil rights violations and also violations of the state education and government codes.
The suit seeks unspecified compensatory damages as well as attorneys’ fees. A representative for the district did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the suit filed Oct. 15. According to the suit, in September 2024, M.T.D was alone waiting for his grandmother to pick him up from in front of Piute Middle School when a group of students bullied, taunted and took his backpack from him. The backpack was found in the boys’ locker room after a three-hour search and although the plaintiff’s family received “profuse apologies” from school staff, no meaningful effort was made to make sure the boy would have an after-school aide with him in the future, the suit states.
The graphic video of M.T.D. urinating in a bathroom was recorded two weeks later, was posted on Instagram and went viral among Piute students, according to the suit, which further states that the school’s vice principal apologized to the boy’s mother and called the other students’ actions “unacceptable.”
M.T.D. was transferred to Endeavor School the day after the embarrassing recording was made, but he remains traumatized, the suit states. As for his sister, from the beginning of her time at Piute, M.N.D. has been a direct victim of relentless bullying due to her brother’s autism, the suit states. She was sent the video of her brother in a private message by M.T.D.’s bullies, the complaint further states.
M.N.D.’s mental health remains “precarious” due to the alleged persistent nature of the bullying at school, which is reflected by the negative impact on her attendance, grades and ability to concentrate, the suit states. “M.N.D. avoids her peers and no longer enjoys things she used to, such as watching movies with her family,” according to the suit.