Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) will pay $9.7 million to four Damascus High School football sexual assault victims as a part of a September settlement.
Fellow teammates sexually assaulted, raped and battered victims with broomsticks inside the football locker room in 2017 and 2018, 2020 filings alledge. The filings further alleged that the 2017 incident was reported to the junior varsity football coach and a school resource officer, but the locker room remained unsupervised by MCPS to prevent the 2018 assault.
“At Damascus, the football team was king and all oversight went out the window,”one of the victim’s lawyers Timothy Maloney told MCM.
The victims’ lawyers alleged that the school system was negligent in its supervision of the Damascus High School locker room and of a specific member of the football team, according to Maloney.
The victims’ families hope this settlement will stand as a reminder to the Montgomery County Board of Education that their first responsibility is student safety, Maloney said.
The claims against the school district were pending in federal court, Maloney said. The settlement resolves the claim, which would have otherwise led to a trial in district court.
Juvenile charges were made against the four alleged attackers, but records of those cases are confidential.
Since the assault, Damascus High School principal Casey Crouse resigned, junior varsity football coach Vincent Colbert was fired and Athletic Director Joe Doody was removed from his position.
