'Superman' Strip Search: Boy Sues School for Exposing Underwear
A Georgia middle school boy is suing his school district, saying he was humiliated and traumatized by a strip search his vice principle forced on him, which revealed his Superman underwear to other classmates.
According to court documents, the boy, who was in the seventh grade at the time, was one of three students searched on Feb. 8, 2011; he was believed to have had marijuana on his person.
The court notes reveal one of the other students falsely accused the boy of having marijuana. While the boy flatly denied it, administrators continued the search, refusing his pleas to take him to the bathroom where there was more privacy.
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In court on Wednesday, said the incident is to blame for him becoming the target of bullies, who call him "Superman," which was the underwear he was wearing at the time of the search.
The student filed a lawsuit against the Clayton County school district for unspecified punitive and compensatory damages, claiming he is still suffering emotional distress from the incident.
County school officials have yet to publicly comment on the case.
"The strip searches were done intentionally, willfully, wantonly, maliciously, recklessly, sadistically, deliberately, with callous indifference to their consequences," said the boy's attorney, Gerry Weber.
In 2009 it was ruled by the U.S. Supreme Court that school officials are forbidden to even partially strip search their students, even if they have reason to believe the student is breaking the law.
The mother of the student, Angela Dawson, said the incident has changed her son.
"This situation has broken the very foundation of my child's education because in order for him to learn, he has to believe that what schools are trying to teach him is right and now he questions them after they stripped him of his clothes and dignity," she said. "His trust is broken."
