Security at River Rouge HS allegedly attack teen in bathroom
RIVER ROUGE, Mich. (CBS DETROIT) – A River Rouge High School student is suing the district after he says he was severely beaten by school security. The boy's mother says the incident traumatized her son.
"I thought they were there to protect me, not beat me," Terrance Taylor, the teen victim, told CBS News Detroit on Tuesday.
Terrance Taylor still has flashbacks to the day in March of this year when he says two security guards at River Rouge High School pulled him into a bathroom and attacked him.
"One unlocked the door and stood watch while another one went in and physically abused him, really," Michael Fortner, Taylor's attorney, said.
Like any mom, Terrance's mother, Latoria Cook, couldn't believe adults would beat a child.
The school didn't give her a reason why it happened.
"When I showed up, I just seen him with an ice bag and blood everywhere. Ripped-up shirt. They had gave him another shirt to put on," Cook said.
Taylor suffered a swollen eye, scratches and bruises from the alleged beatdown. The then-15-year-old was already recovering from neck injuries he sustained while playing football.
When they went to the River Rogue Police for help, there wasn't much of it.
"Lack of cooperation, lack of investigation, and deliberate attempts to try to hide evidence of what happened to this young man from his family," Fortner said.
CBS News Detroit reached out to the police department asking about this case, but as of Tuesday evening, no one has responded.
The school district superintendent, Derrick Coleman, told CBS News Detroit over the phone that they take any allegation of assault with a sense of urgency. He wouldn't go into specifics about this case. But his understanding is that the guard at the center of this is no longer with the firm.
That firm is DM Burr out of Flint. A spokesperson declined to comment pending the $30 million lawsuit they and the school district now face.
CBS News Detroit: After filing this lawsuit, what change would you like to see happen at the school district?
Taylor: That they actually pay attention to who they hire for the future of the other kids because I don't want anybody else going through that
