A former Chicago Public Schools student claims a school security guard sexually assaulted him multiple times when he was a sophomore at Dunbar Vocational Career Academy, according to a new lawsuit.
The student, now 18, also claims that Dunbar teachers and staff failed to protect him and neglected to intervene and investigate the sexual misconduct, according to the filed complaint Tuesday in Cook County Circuit Court against the security guard and the Chicago School Board.
Named John Doe in the lawsuit, the student was new to the South Side school in November 2021 when the security guard, Tywain Carter, began grooming him, according to the lawsuit.
Carter told the boy he would protect him from “bullies and gang members.” He then began removing the student from class and taking her to a staff computer lab and sexually assaulting her. The regular abuse, which included rape and other violent acts, lasted for several weeks in November and December, the complaint states.
“John Doe was brutally and repeatedly assaulted and sexually abused by a security guard hired by CPS,” said Scott Lane, a senior associate at Lane Brown and one of the student’s attorneys.
“The CPS allowed these attacks and abuse to take place and as such are responsible for what happened. And unfortunately, John Doe is not the only one to be a victim of CPS’s failures. There are many victims of sexual assault and abuse in the CPS system,” Lane told reporters Thursday.
A CPS spokesperson said the district does not comment on pending litigation.
“The safety and well-being of our staff and students are top priorities and fundamental requirements for our school communities,” a CPS spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
The district “actively works to prevent sexual abuse and thoroughly handles all reports of abuse.” District leaders and staff understand the traumatic impact of sexual abuse and continually work to educate leaders, faculty and students on the topic and the reporting process,” the statement continued.
The lawsuit seeks to determine why Dunbar staff failed to protect the student and publicize the district’s failure to protect students from sexual assault as well as an unspecified amount of money.
The student, who was 15 at the time, told his mother what happened in December, and his parents later reported the abuse to Chicago police and the school. Carter was eventually arrested and pleaded guilty in 2023 to sexually assaulting John Doe and another Dunbar student. He is serving an eight-year prison sentence.
“The school failed me,” the student said in a written statement. “No child should ever have to sacrifice their innocence for their safety, but I lost mine and now I endure constant pain and anxiety in this world.”
The lawsuit also alleges that Dunbar teachers and staff failed to follow CPS procedures for recognizing and reporting sexual abuse and sexual assault, said Nick Kamenjarin, another John Doe attorney and partner at Lane Brown.
“This is a classic example of what CPS staff, administrators and teachers have been trained to testify about and report on,” Kamenjarin said.
Dunbar teachers and administrators should have recognized something was wrong when Carter repeatedly removed the student from class without reason and took him to an undisclosed location for an extended period of time, Kamenjarin said .
“Yet they continually failed to follow not only their training, but also the written policies and procedures of Chicago Public Schools, as well as their common sense,” he said.
The boy’s father said in a written statement that even after Carter was sent to prison, “no one from Dunbar ever contacted us to see how our son was doing, much less to say he was sorry for what happened.” had happened to him. It hurts.
John Doe remained at Dunbar for several weeks after the abuse, but eventually left the school because it became too painful to stay, his attorneys said. He eventually graduated from another school. But he has since struggled to lead a normal life and recover from the trauma, his mother said in a statement.
“The CPS has ignored all of these assurances and, frankly, demonstrated that it is cold and uncaring. They just never did anything,” Lane said.
“It is this attitude, this cold and uncaring attitude, that allowed these attacks and abuse to take place in the first place. »
