Brooklyn Tech officials fumble probe of shocking student-on-student abuse: Lawsuit

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Prestigious Brooklyn Tech High School bungled a probe of shocking student-on-student sex abuse — erasing evidence of “child pornography” and even accusing the victim of orchestrating a harassment campaign against the perpetrator, she claims in a lawsuit.

The victim, identified in court papers as Jane Doe, claims school administrators substantiated her allegations against the older classmate, with one calling it the “worst case” of such misconduct they’d ever seen.

The 6-foot-tall classmate “controlled and surveilled” the then 15-year-old Doe when they began dating in January 2020, demanding her online passwords, requiring her to share screenshots of “every text message she sent to anyone,” threatening and verbally abusing her if she failed to respond to him immediately, and at times, pushing and putting his hand on the throat of the girl, who weighed no more than 100 pounds, according to the court papers.

The boyfriend “seemed to relish in causing extreme fear,” Doe alleged.

Prestigious Brooklyn Tech High School.
The victim, identified in court papers as Jane Doe, claims school administrators substantiated her allegations against the older classmate.
Paul Martinka

Things got even worse three months later when schools shifted to remote learning because of COVID-19. The girl claims in the lawsuit that her abuser was “incessant” and “coerced” her into taking nude photos and videos of herself and to perform sex acts while he watched online, with “specific positions and with specific, intimate body parts exposed at his direction. Hundreds of re-shoots were demanded until he approved.”

When she resisted, he threatened to release the nude pictures of her, Doe claimed. She finally told a school guidance counselor 18 months later when in-person learning returned and she realized they shared a class — but instead of reporting the sexual exploitation of a minor to police, the counselor simply changed her schedule, according to the lawsuit.

The accused, whose name is being withheld by The Post because he has apparently not been charged with any crime, didn’t deny the allegations to school officials, Doe claimed. An administrator investigating the claims viewed the illicit pics on his phone and had the young man delete them, but also failed to call the NYPD, the accuser claims.

The alleged abuser slammed the girl as a liar on social media, alerting their classmates to the probe. When graffiti labeling him as “scum” began appearing in the building, school administrators threatened to discipline and investigate Jane Doe and intimated “that she was somehow responsible,” according to her legal filing.

Her family was forced to go to law enforcement themselves, and claims cops told them the behavior “was the type of abuse they would expect from an abusive middle-aged man, not a teenager,” according to court papers.

The accused abuser’s sole punishment was to write an apology letter, while the victim was told the only way she could avoid him was if she switched schools, according to court papers.

“There was simply no discussion that [the accused] should be the one to transfer to another school,” the alleged victim claimed in the legal filing, adding that under Department of Education policy, her only option was “to give up the seat she had earned in one of the country’s best high schools, rather than expect any protection from further encounters with her abuser at school.”

Prestigious Brooklyn Tech High School.
An administrator investigating the claims viewed the illicit pics on his phone and had the young man delete them, but also failed to call the NYPD, the accuser claims.
Paul Martinka

Ultimately, both remained at Brooklyn Tech.

Doe is suing her ex, the DOE, and the city, and is seeking unspecified damages.

“We take such allegations very seriously, and will review the suit,” a DOE spokesman said.

A lawyer for the accused classmate denied the allegations..

“This civil lawsuit is the culmination of a years-long smear campaign against a teenage boy.  The allegations have already been investigated and vetted by multiple organizations and yet [Jane Doe] and, one can assume her parents, are not satisfied with the findings,” said attorney Ryan Blanch. “It’s a sad day when high school teenage relationships are litigated in the most aggressive way possible, a la War of the Roses.”

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