Victim-Blaming New Rochelle High School Stairwell Rape Case Settles
WARNING: The content of this article may be offensive or disturbing to readers.
WHITE PLAINS, NY (May 16, 2022) — A controversial lawsuit in which attorneys representing the City School District of New Rochelle and City of New Rochelle were accused of blaming a rape victim for being raped is coming to an end.
All parties in a lawsuit filed on behalf of a then-ninth-grade girl (“MB”) who was brutally sexually assaulted in a stairwell at New Rochelle High School by a male student (“IL”) have agreed to settle the case, according to court documents filed in recent weeks. The parties are expected to be in court in July to finalize the agreement before the judge overseeing the case.
The settlement came less than a month after a decision on March 31, 2022, by Judge Sam D. Walker to grant Plaintiff’s request for the School District to submit for in camera inspection by the court of all IL records protected by FERPA within 10 days and for the School District to produce video from the stairwell within 20 days.
The court records do not indicate whether the School District ever produced the video to the Plaintiffs or, unwilling to give up control of the video, chose to settle the case rather than provide the Plaintiffs a copy of the video.
The sexual assault of MB by IL occurred on January 6, 2020, in a stairwell at New Rochelle High School.
After admitting in Family Court to a felony charge based on the rape of MB in May 2020, IL he spent time at Edenwald/Mount Pleasant Cottage School and the Sex Offender Program at Children’s Village in Dobbs Ferry, NY. He was released from custody in September 2021 but remains today as a day student at Children’s Village.
EDITOR’S NOTE: a previous version of this article inadvertently included information from an unrelated case (Bryan Stamps).
In September 2021, IL sought to return to New Rochelle High School but his request was denied based in large part on the objections of a senior-level administrator. IL has continued to petition to return to New Rochelle High School as a student-athlete.
WARNING: The content of this article may be offensive or disturbing to readers — the most sensitive material has been placed behind the paywall is only available to paid subscribers.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Words in Edgewise to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.