Associated Press--A high school student who says she was raped after missing her bus home in 2004 has sued over a district policy that barred her from returning to campus to call for a ride. The federal lawsuit says the policy is reckless because it effectively strands students in a city with "notorious high crime."
The girl, who missed her school bus because she was meeting with a counselor, was walking to a bus station in May 2004 when she was abducted at gunpoint by four men and driven to a home, where one of the men raped her, according to the lawsuit. No criminal charges have been filed.
The girl, then a sophomore, has since moved out of the area, family attorney Eric Evans said Wednesday. The lawsuit, filed Friday,
seeks at least $75,000 on each of seven counts. The lawsuit also names Nathaniel Anderson, who was the school district's superintendent at the time, and Chester Bluette, then East St. Louis High's principal. Bluette declined to comment Wednesday, deferring to the district's spokesman, Doug Clark.Clark said he was unaware of the lawsuit or any policy barring students from re-entering a school.
The lawsuit claims the girl tried to re-enter the school to call for a ride but was told to walk to her ho
me or to a regional transit agency bus stop. Near the bus stop, the men approached her and threatened to shoot her in the head, then forced her into a car, the lawsuit says. After she was raped, she was driven back to the bus stop and pushed out of the car, the lawsuit says.The lawsuit also names the transit agency, saying it should have safeguarded the bus station because of known criminal activity including public intoxication, drinking and drug use there.
Metro spokeswoman Diane Williams declined to comment, saying the transit agency hadn't seen the lawsuit.
On the Net: School district: http://www.estlouis.stclair.k12.il.us
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