http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/school_law/2013/08/district_not_liable_in_after_s.htmlThe Detroit school district and three school employees could not be held liable in a shooting near a chronically violent high school that left one student dead, a federal appeals court has ruled.
The case stems from a 2008 shooting outside Henry Ford High School in Detroit, a school described in court papers as a place with a long history of gangs and violence. A fight between two students in the hall was broken up by school security guards, who sent the students back to class. After school, one student involved with the fight and two of his friends allegedly opened fire on the other fighter, Christopher Walker, who was killed. Three other students were injured.
The victims (including the family of the dead student) sued the shooters, as well as the Detroit school system, the Henry Ford High principal, and the school security guards.
Against the school defendants, the plaintiffs relied primarily on a "state-created danger theory," which generally means the government did some affirmative act that exposed a person to danger by a third party. They said that the merger of Henry Ford High with nearby Redford High School established a state-created danger because officials knew the two schools had rival gangs. They also argued that a 25-year history of gang violence in and around Henry Ford High represented a "public nuisance" attributable to the school system and its employees.
A federal district court found the alleged shooters (it's not clear whether they were criminally convicted) liable, but it dismissed the Detroit school system and the school employees.
In an Aug. 26 decision in Walker v. Detroit Public School District, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit, in Cincinnati, unanimously upheld the lower court.
The court noted that there is a state-created danger theory of liability available only in limited circumstances.
"In this case, neither merging the high schools nor breaking up the fight satisfies the affirmative act element of a state-created danger claim," the appeals court said.
"Turning to the fight on the day of the shooting, the plaintiffs contend that, if school officials had intervened more effectively, the shooting may have been averted," the court said. "Even assuming this is true, there was no evidence presented that, by breaking up the fight, school officials created or greatly increased the risk that [the shooter] would return after school and open fire into a crowd."
"The harm inflicted on the plaintiffs is tragic," the court added. "However, the violence that occurred was unquestionably committed by private actors, and the plaintiffs have neither stated a plausible claim that the school district, nor advanced sufficient factual support for the claim that the school officials, played a part in creating or greatly increasing the danger that the plaintiffs would be victims of gun violence as they left school."
Not a school shooting apparently. Certainly didn't hear anything about it in the national media.
http://news.wabe.org/post/new-information-released-price-middle-school-shootingPolice say a preliminary investigation found the shooting occurred after two groups of students exchanged words outside the school. Police Chief George Turner says a 15-year-old student shot a 14-year-old student with a .380 caliber handgun with a six round capacity magazine in the back of the neck before being apprehended by a school resource officer.
“We think it was definitely gang-related between the two groups. The victim was actually part of one of the groups that was targeted.”
CREDIT MICHELLE WIRTH/WABE NEWS
Police and school officials are unsure where the shooter obtained the gun and how it ended up on school grounds.
Atlanta Public School Superintendent Erroll Davis also says it’s unknown whether metal detectors at the school were working.
“As with all devices, particularly electronic and mechanical devices, sometimes they work and sometimes they do not, so certainly there may be periods of time when they’re not working. They were checked out today. However, I don’t whether they were working."
Davis again defended the district’s approach to notifying parents.
“No matter what the incident is, we will never be able to inform parents instantly. We do not want to give them rumor. This isn’t rumor center control. We don’t want to give them innuendo. We don’t want to give what we think. We want to give them facts.”
And Mayor Kasim Reed applauded the Atlanta Police Department for their efforts and says he’s thankful the shooting wasn’t worse.
“We need to take this blessing and understand that tragedy can strike the city of Atlanta and our kids, and we dodged a very, very devastating bullet in my judgment."
The Mayor also says he wants to link schools in the district with the city’s video integration center.
Also not a school shooting. Fancy that.
Such events are relegated to local media, always. Not even names, much less reports of their race. Want more examples? There are literally dozens. Almost a weekly occurence in certain cities like Detroit. Now, do you think this is an isolated case, or a common occurence? Do you think it's a coincidence that so many african american majority schools are basically mini-penitentiaries, where an ever present cadre of police officers roam the halls to prevent day-to-day gang violence, random beatings, assaults on teachers, etc? But no, of course, 15-25 year old black males being the main source of violent homicides in the US is suddenly not applicable in a school setting, even though reality disagrees.
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