Mother of disabled girl who was allegedly raped in Starbucks bathroom sues company, school district

The mother of a mentally disabled girl who was allegedly led off school grounds by three male students and sexually assaulted in a Starbucks bathroom and a nearby vacant building filed a lawsuit Wednesday, accusing Starbucks, Pittsburgh Public Schools and a property management company of negligence.

The lawsuit alleges that school staff at Taylor Allderdice High School failed to adequately supervise and care for the girl during school hours and during transportation to and from school. It is alleged that both the property management company 101 Kappa Drive Associates #1 and Starbucks managers were aware of increasing crime problems near their business and failed to provide security or training to employees on how to respond to criminal activities and reporting them.

“Pittsburgh Public Schools failed to create a safe environment for my client to get to and from school even though she knew she needed one. And Starbucks and Kappa failed to protect my client from the violence of others, even though they knew their companies were causing criminal activity. The painful result was her sexual assault,” said attorney Alec Wright, who is representing the girl and her mother in the lawsuit.

The lawsuit alleges that the then-15-year-old girl, whose name was withheld in the lawsuit, was led off campus by three male students in October 2022. The lawsuit alleges that Starbucks employees witnessed the male students taking turns entering the bathroom with the girl and did not intervene. The alleged attackers then took her to a vacant building managed by Kappa, where the third boy sexually assaulted the girl, according to the lawsuit filed in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas.

At first the girl could not tell her mother what had happened to her. But days later, the mother said she was informed by the school that the girl was found crying alone at a lunchroom table because of a rumor that three boys had had sex with her. The mother said she met with school officials, who were then informed that the incident occurred at Starbucks, and not at the school as officials initially suspected.

The mother took the girl for a medical examination which she said showed positive signs of sexual assault. She reported the assault to the police, but over a year later the police filed no charges.

A spokesperson for the Pittsburgh Department of Public Safety said the case had been closed and the county attorney’s office had decided not to file charges.

A message seeking comment was sent to Seattle-based Starbucks’ corporate communications. A phone number was not available for Kappa, but The Associated Press left a message with a real estate company that handles the leasing of several Kappa properties.

A spokesperson for Pittsburgh Public Schools said the district does not comment on pending litigation.

Pittsburgh Public Schools provides public transportation bus passes to high school students who live within 2 miles of their school and to younger students who live within 1.5 miles of their school. At Taylor Allderdice High School, district officials had negotiated with the Pittsburgh Public Transportation Authority to move the transit bus stop used by many students to the location in front of the Starbucks.

According to the lawsuit, the girl’s mother informed school officials that her daughter would need help adjusting to high school and taking public transportation to school. The lawsuit notes that the girl’s IQ was around 65 during the evaluation, then below 60 on a second test, placing her intellectually in the lowest 1% of students.

However, the lawsuit alleges that the girl was left unattended during her first months in high school and was allowed to wander the halls or hide in the bathroom during her classes. Tardiness and attendance policies were not enforced due to her disability, and staff failed to speak to her as she left the classroom or to provide safety monitors for her during school hours or on her way to and from the classroom. bus stop, the lawsuit said.

“It just makes me angry knowing that there was so little supervision or protection for my daughter. When she goes to school in the morning, she has to return home safely from school,” the girl’s mother said. “Taylor Allderdice had her lured off campus, and Starbucks had her attacked in the bathroom. It’s all so frustrating and disheartening. It’s just really hard to describe.”

The Associated Press does not name victims of sexual assault or abuse unless they come forward publicly. The names of both the girl and her mother were withheld from the lawsuit to protect the girl’s identity.

The lawsuit alleges that the male teens were given unrestricted access to the girl when they were able to direct her off campus to the Starbucks bus stop, where school officials did not provide safety monitors during peak hours despite being aware of the increased incidents involving students. violence and other negative activities.

The month before the assault occurred, a large group of students got into an argument at the bus stop. A police officer was injured trying to break up the fight and police shocked two students with Tasers during the incident.

Owners of businesses in the same building as Starbucks have reported harassment of customers, window breaking and students challenging business owners to fights and other problems involving drugs and vandalism. At least one business owner has asked the school district to move the bus stop during school board meetings.

The lawsuit alleges that Starbucks and Kappa failed to respond to well-known problems with crime, violence and mischief by failing to develop policies or provide training for employees on how to protect themselves or their customers, and by failing to implement security measures such as security guards during heavy traffic. time.

The lawsuit alleges that Starbucks employees largely gave students unrestricted access to the bathrooms, in part because the students increased the store’s sales.