SCHOOL BUS CRASH REPORTS 2007

'Mother Doe' Claims Son Was Assaulted On School Bus
Suit Seeks $50,000 in Damages from School District, Bus Company
January 31, 2007

COUNTRY CLUB HILLS, Ill. -- The mother of a second-grade special education student said her son was sexually assaulted by several older boys on a school bus and later at his Country Club Hills school.

In a lawsuit filed on Tuesday in Cook County Circuit Court, the mother said the school district and the bus company should have done more to protect her son and supervise the other children on the bus. The mother and the boy are referred to as John Doe and Mother Doe in the suit, which names the Country Club Hills School District 160 and Illinois School Bus Co. as defendants.

The suit claims that on July 24, 2006, the boy was riding a school bus "when he was sexually assaulted by several male students. The sexual assaults, which began on the bus, were carried out repeatedly thereafter on school grounds until discovered by the [boy's] parents."

The boy attends the Zenon J. Sykuta School, 4301 W. 180th St., in Country Club Hills.

The suit argues that the school district "knew or should have known that several of the older male students had a deviant sexual history." The students riding on the school bus attended grades kindergarten through 8, according to the suit.

There was "no bus attendant" on the bus, the suit says. Additionally, the suit argues that the school district and bus company knew that children "like the plaintiff needed to be guarded, supervised and protected" while in their custody.

The suit seeks damages of at least $50,000.

Copyright 2006, Chicago Sun-Times Inc.

back to Crash Reports 2007

top