A parent is suing a private boarding and day school, and an employee who was at the Lakeville school during the 2023-24 school year, for damages after an assault and battery allegedly motivated by racial animus that occurred there in November 2023.
The plaintiff, who resides in New York, filed a lawsuit in Litchfield Superior Court and the case against Indian Mountain School is ongoing.
The lawsuit states that on Nov. 9, 2023 at approximately 4:15 p.m., the African American student, identified in the lawsuit as C.J., was at the school when the defendant Mike Wilson, an employee, allegedly “engaged in a verbal confrontation with” C.J. and that Wilson was “verbally abusive to C.J.”
“The confrontation went from verbal to physical as defendant Mike Wilson came into contact with” C.J., the lawsuit claims, adding that Wilson allegedly “repeatedly pushed … C.J.” and placed him into a chokehold.
Wilson was charged with second-degree unlawful restraint and third-degree assault, according to information from Litchfield Superior Court. He pleaded guilty and was given a conditional discharge with suspended sentence, according to court information.
The plaintiff is suing the school for negligence regarding Michael Wilson’s alleged “pattern of abusive, harassing conduct to C.J. based on racial animosity,” according to the lawsuit.
“Indian Mountain School, knew or should have known and had actual and/or constructive notice of defendant Mike Wilson’s [alleged] uncivil, abusive, offensive, racist violent propensities,” the lawsuit claims.
The lawsuit continued and alleges: “Prior to November 9, 2023, Defendant Mike Wilson had repeatedly been harassing, abusive and exhibited animosity to infant C.J.”
The lawsuit further claims that the Indian Mountain School’s “training program was inadequate and that a hypothetically well-trained employee would have resolved the situation set forth in this complaint in a manner that would have avoided the violations suffered by C.J.”
The plaintiff is also suing Wilson for punitive damages, stating that Wilson allegedly “intentionally, negligently and for the purpose of causing severe emotional distress, recklessly conducted himself toward C.J. in a manner so shocking and outrageous that it exceeded all reasonable bounds of decency, wanton disregard, gross negligence, causing him to suffer personal injuries, conscious pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, emotional upset, shock and fright, fear of impending death.”
Max Silverberg, associate trial attorney with Sonin & Genis in the Bronx, N.Y., who is representing the plaintiff, said in an email that “this is an active and ongoing lawsuit” and that the case is moving forward through the court system.
“We are confident that the evidence will fully support our client’s claims and will hold the responsible parties accountable for what occurred,” he said. “What happened to this student should never occur in any school and we are committed to pursuing justice on their behalf.”
Indian Mountain School declined to comment.