South High School alumnus claims negligence in state court

At its Dec. 11 meeting, the nine members of the Central High School District Board of Education voted unanimously to pay the possible costs that might arise in South High School alumnus Zion Guzman Milton’s negligence lawsuit against the district, after he was severely beaten at South High School by another student in 2014, when he was 14.

A judge dismissed Guzman Milton’s case in federal court in March, but it was refiled in state court on Oct. 18.

Guzman Milton is seeking monetary damages of $2 million, plus punitive damages, costs and attorneys’ fees.

According to the lawsuit, on Jan. 16, 2014, Guzman Milton, who is black, tried to retrieve a book from his locker when another student followed him and called him derogatory names, such as “Afroman” and “AfroJack.” It further alleges that Guzman Milton tried to get away from the student but was “violently attacked, assaulted, struck and/or beaten,” causing him to lose consciousness. The Herald is withholding the name of the attacker because he was a minor at the time of the incident.

When Guzman Milton regained consciousness, the lawsuit states, he was in severe pain and sitting in a wheelchair. The suit alleges that Principal Maureen Henry and nurse Caroline Bormann “failed to notify the appropriate medical agencies to treat and examine the plaintiff Guzman Milton, thus resulting in further injury and exacerbation of existing serious head injury.”

Eventually, court documents state, Wendy Guzman, the boy’s mother, arrived and called an ambulance. Documents further state that Henry “became visibly upset” when Nassau County police arrived on the scene. She allegedly told Christopher Milton, Zion’s father, that “our policy is not to arrest students” and “how dare you call the police.”

Court documents state that according to the district’s Code of Conduct, Henry was obliged to “notify the appropriate local law enforcement agency of the Valley Stream Central High School District’s Code of Conduct violations that constitute a crime.”

Her failure to do so, the lawsuit alleges, led to further damage. By the time Guzman Milton arrived at South Nassau Communities Hospital in Oceanside, he was diagnosed with an epidural hemorrhage and had to undergo emergency surgery.

When he returned to school in February 2014, the lawsuit claims, Henry said that he would be “carefully watched by security officers,” but Guzman Milton was taunted by two of the attacker’s friends. The Central High School District’s bullying policy states that each case would be handled differently, and that follow-up discussions would be scheduled to ensure that the safety concerns had “been adequately addressed.”

The lawsuit further states that Guzman Milton continues to exhibit emotional damage because of the harassment.

“It’s a lawsuit that has serious allegations,” said Frederick Brewington, the attorney representing Guzman Milton. “We’re hopeful that the judicial system will treat it as a serious case.”

Gerald Smith, an attorney representing the Central High School District and the school officials named in the lawsuit, declined to comment.

In the March decision dismissing the case, U.S. District Court Joanna Seybert wrote that a teacher had seen the assault and promptly filed a police report. She also wrote that Bormann, the nurse, completed a concussion checklist and noted that Guzman Milton was complaining about pain behind his eye. Court documents show that Bormann reported a loss of consciousness and advised his parents to seek medical attention. The decision states that Bormann said she called an ambulance at his mother’s request, but also testified that she called an ambulance after Guzman Milton reported “seeing waves,” appearing to contradict herself.

Seybert’s decision also states that in an investigation following the harassment, the other student said that Guzman Milton pushed him and said, “Come on, let’s fight,” and that guidance counselor Barbara Madigan, who was also named in the lawsuit, was unaware of any issues between the two students before the assault.

Seybert further ruled that the school did not have to constitutionally protect Guzman Milton from private harm and that district officials were not acting negligently when they failed to prevent an assault. The decision also stated that his parents could not bring charges of emotional distress for their son, who was a minor, when the lawsuit was filed in 2015.