A woman filed a lawsuit Wednesday after her intellectually disabled teenage daughter was allegedly lured off campus and sexually assaulted inside a Starbucks bathroom and a vacant building nearby, according to The Associated Press (AP).
Three male high school classmates allegedly raped the 15-year-old girl in October 2022, the lawsuit reportedly said. A medical exam reportedly revealed signs consistent with sexual assault, the mother claimed, according to the lawsuit. The police have not charged any of the alleged perpetrators, however, the outlet reported.
Mother of disabled girl who was allegedly raped in Starbucks bathroom sues company, school district https://t.co/AvNEkb1k82
— The Associated Press (@AP) January 24, 2024
The victim’s mother has reportedly accused the school district, Starbucks, and the empty building’s management company of negligence in the lawsuit.
“Pittsburgh Public Schools failed to create a safe environment for my client to go to and from school when it knew that she needed one,” Alec Wright, the attorney representative of the alleged victim and her mother, argued in the lawsuit, according to The AP.
The lawsuit claimed three male students allegedly lured the girl off school grounds in 2022, the outlet reported. The lawsuit also reportedly alleged that employees at the Starbucks store failed to intervene despite allegedly seeing the male students going inside the bathroom with the girl. The three students allegedly then led the girl to an abandoned structure run by Kappa, where one of students allegedly sexually asaulted her, the lawsuit stated, according to the outlet.
The lawsuit alleged that Starbucks and the management company, 101 Kappa Drive Associates #1, knew of the recent rise in criminal activity near their businesses, The AP reported.
The mother further claimed in the lawsuit that the school often allegedly left her daughter unsupervised despite knowing she needed help, allegedly allowing the girl to skip class and hang out in the school’s hallways or bathrooms, according to the outlet. (RELATED: Lawsuit Alleges Nine-Year-Old Girl Repeatedly Raped By Older Student On School Bus)
“It just makes me feel angry to know that there was such little oversight or protection for my daughter. If she leaves in the morning to go to school, then she should return home from school safe,” the victim’s mother reportedly alleged. “[The school] let her be lured off campus, and Starbucks let her be attacked in its bathrooms. It’s all just so frustrating and disheartening. It’s just very hard to describe.”