FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- The mother of the girl who was viciously beaten at Deerfield Beach Middle School filed a negligence lawsuit Thursday against the Broward County School District, alleging the March 17 attack could have been prevented with adequate security.
Josie Lou Ratley, now 16, suffered permanent injuries and brain damage when she was assaulted at a campus bus stop, said her attorney, Sean Domnick. A school resource officer was at the school at the time of the attack, but did not witness it. The assault -- during which Ratley's head was slammed to the ground and stomped on multiple times -- was finally stopped by a teacher.
Wayne Treacy, now 16, has been charged as an adult with first-degree attempted murder and faces a maximum sentence of 50 years if convicted.
The school was negligent, the lawsuit says, in "failing to have adequate security ... failing to take reasonable steps to prevent unauthorized entry on school ground ... (and) failing to adequately supervise the bus pick up area."
The lawsuit asks for unspecified damages greater than $15,000.
Broward County schools spokeswoman Nadine Drew said the district will not comment on pending litigation.
Ratley suffered irreversible brain damage during the assault, according to doctors and her lawyers. After she came out of a medically induced coma, she was moved to a physical rehabilitation center in Sunrise, Fla.
She was released from there in June and has continued as an outpatient ever since. The change allowed more of her bills to be covered by Medicaid.
While her overall condition has improved, progress is slow, and she is nowhere near the teenager she was before the assault took place, Domnick said.
Treacy is accused of tracking down Ratley, whom he did not know, after a heated, profanity-laced text message exchange that went from his computer to her cell phone. Treacy was attempting to reach a mutual friend, Kayla Manson, who contacted him earlier in the day using Ratley's phone.
According to the exchange, Ratley taunted Treacy, then 15, about his friendship with Manson, who was 13. Treacy bristled at being called a "rapist" and retorted with a false claim that Ratley was abused by her father. Ratley apparently dismissed Treacy by telling him to visit his brother, who had committed suicide five months earlier.
Treacy flew into a rage, threatening to kill Ratley and sending text messages to two friends repeating the threat. He put on a pair of steel-toe boots and bicycled three miles from his home to Deerfield Beach Middle School.
Manson, now 14, has been charged as an accomplice because, investigators say, she knew what Treacy wanted to do and pointed Ratley out to him anyway.
The lawsuit states Treacy, a student at Deerfield Beach High School, "openly walked onto the grounds of Deerfield Middle School. No one from the school noticed him, stopped him or otherwise made an effort to prevent him from unauthorized entry on the school grounds."
According to court records, Treacy grabbed Ratley by the neck while she wasn't looking, pushed her to the ground, grabbed her head and slammed it on the concrete as many as seven times, stood up and stomped her head as many as eight times while wearing steel-toe boots before a teacher finally knocked Treacy off Ratley.
Treacy's lawyer, Russell Williams, has repeatedly indicated the boy's mental health will be part of his defense.
Treacy has also filed a lawsuit against the school district, arguing in early December that the schools and the Broward County Sheriff's Office are failing to provide him with an education as he awaits trial, as required. That suit is still pending.
Treacy's next criminal court appearance is scheduled for the end of March. No trial date has been set.
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