Lawyers argue whether Horry County student needs to testify about sexual assault claims
After a female student said she was sexually assaulted by her classmates for more than a year at an Horry County school, lawyers are fighting over whether or not she should be forced to give a deposition.
A lawyer for the school, Bridgewater Academy, wants the girl to give her sworn testimony about what happened, but the girl’s lawyer argues doing so would hurt her mental health and well-being.
According to court documents, the girl has already told state investigators the specifics of the assaults, which occurred over the course of 13 months at two separate schools in Horry County. A video of the interview was given to the school’s lawyers.
“In this case the deposition ... is unreasonably burdensome on the child victim to unnecessarily relive that abuse, trauma and speak to her emotional harm,” Scott Evans, the girl’s lawyer, argued in court documents.
Malloy McEachin Jr., Bridgewater’s lawyer, declined to respond to questions emailed by The Sun News about the deposition.
The lawsuit
The initial lawsuit, filed in Horry County court June 2020, details unwanted touching of Jane Doe, a pseudonym for the girl who was in the fourth grade at the time. While at Ocean Bay Elementary School, the lawsuit states, the girl was “exposed and subjected to various assaults by a male student.” These included verbal harassment and inappropriate touching.
The girl reported this to her parents, who told the school’s guidance counselor.
In 2018, the girl enrolled at Bridgewater Academy as a sixth-grader. Again she was “exposed to bullying, sexual harassment and sexual assaults,” the lawsuit states.
For a little over a year, the girl was assaulted “almost daily,” usually outside during recess and sometimes in the classroom, according to court documents. A criminal investigation into the assaults found that the girl was verbally assaulted, inappropriately touched and attempts were made to force her to touch other students inappropriately.
The girl attended counseling and had signs of depression, anxiety and thoughts about harming herself, the lawsuit states.
A criminal complaint was filed and the girl left Bridgewater sometime after.
The lawsuits states that Horry County School District knew about the sexually-inappropriate behavior and failed to take any action to prevent it or discipline any of the students. The lawsuit goes on to say the school was negligent in its handling of the situation and violated Title IX, a law preventing sex-based discrimination in any educational program receiving federal funding.
Title IX violations
The civil rights law requires schools to designate at least one employee to coordinate compliance with Title IX regulations and according to court documents filed in June 2021, Bridgewater Academy had none.
“Bridgewater Academy is not in compliance whatsoever with the federal requirements for preventing and addressing sexual harassment,” according to the court documents filed by Evans, the girl’s lawyer.
The documents include a deposition with Bridgewater Academy Principal Steve Wilson. In the deposition Wilson tells Evans staff at the school do not receive Title IX training.
Wilson also details a Facebook post that came after a Sun News article revealed Horry County police were investigating inappropriate behavior at the school. According to Wilson, “students involved elected to play a game that they knew was inappropriate.”
Evans argued that the statement, which has been removed from Facebook, said nothing about a game and instead explained all students involved “willfully participated.” Wilson clarified he did not know if the girl’s participation was voluntary. Wilson also said none of the teachers received any disciplinary actions in response to the assaults.
Deposition and motion for protective order
The latest court filing is a motion for a protective order and was filed by Evans to prevent the girl from having to give a deposition to the school’s attorney. Having the girl questioned by someone who is not trained in interviewing minor victims of sexual assault would subject her to further trauma and harm, Evans argued.
Court records also state that McEachin, Bridgewater Academy’s lawyer, has not taken the deposition of the forensic examiner who treated the girl or any of her healthcare providers, including her therapist. The Horry County police detective who investigated the initial assaults was also not asked for his deposition.
The girl’s therapist, Jacqueline Campman, provided a letter to the court stating that the girl suffers from post traumatic stress disorder relating to the assaults and struggles to handle things that emotionally trigger her.
Forcing her to give the deposition will “exponentially regress the progress she has made over the last year and a half,” Campman wrote, adding she “strongly advocates for her to be excluded from testifying.”
This story was originally published July 23, 2021 at 1:00 PM.
