Brentwood Academy Rape: Alleged Attackers, Parents Sued

BRENTWOOD, TN — The boy who claims he was raped while a student at Brentwood Academy and his mother have now filed multi-million lawsuit against his some of his alleged attackers and their parents, in addition to the already-filed claim against the school and much of its leadership.

The allegations made in the civil suit filed Thursday in Williamson County Circuit Court are much the same as those made in the suit filed against the school. The suit names three of the attackers and their parents as defendants.

(For more updates on this story and free news alerts for your neighborhood, sign up for your local Middle Tennessee Patch morning newsletter.)

The lawsuits claim that during the 2014-15 academic year four then-eighth-graders held down the sixth-grader, named in the suit as John Doe, at a post-game party and placed their buttocks on his face and their scrotums on or in his mouth. The suit alleges that on four other occasions, in the tony private school's basketball locker room, one boy forced his penis into John Doe's mouth saying "eat it, eat it, eat it, open your mouth, accept it." The same boy allegedly placed his penis into the buttocks of John Doe and later bragged about the sexual assault, telling members of the basketball team he "f----- that boy up the ass and stuck a Gatorade bottle in him."

John Doe's mother, identified in the suit as Jane Doe, then approached counselor Chris Roberts, an employee of Christian counseling ministry Daystar Counseling and a former BA employee. He is accused of not reporting the assault accusations to law enforcement or state children's services officials and telling Jane Doe "this isn't how a Christian institution handles these things." Roberts did not disclose the assaults to the Department of Children's Services. Does parents did report the incidents to DCS in Roberts' presence, according to the complaint.

Later, Brasher claimed that the attacks were fictional because the four students accused in them were banned from the locker room in January 2015, according to the suit. She also allegedly said John Doe was culpable because he did not properly report the attacks which Brasher said could not have happened.

Jane Doe claims that during an April 20 meeting with Brasher and Masters, the headmaster called the assault claims "boys being boys" and said he could not investigate them and run a school simultaneously. Later, one of the boys admitted to some of the attacks to Masters, who then told Jane Doe two of the boys were “separated from the BA community,” according to the lawsuit. Masters gave one of the other students in-school suspension, according to the suit. A fourth student had retained a lawyer, Masters told the Does, and said "we can't touch him."

According to the Does' suit, Masters told John Doe "everything in God's kingdom happens for a reason" and "turn the other cheek."

Masters has broadly denied many of the accusations.

In the latest suit, the parents of three of the boys — neither the boys nor their parents are identified by name — are accused of knowing their children were involved in bullying and assault, including the sexual assault as the center of the suit, and "failed to redress the same with remedial action."

Under Tennessee law, parents can be found civilly liable for the children's actions if those actions cause injury and the parents is aware or should be aware of "the child's tendency to commit wrongful acts which can be expected to cause injury." That law further presumes knowledge by the parents if the child has been previously charged and found responsible for those acts.

Anyone suing a parent under that statute can received up to $10,000. Both John and Jane Doe seek the maximum from each parent of the three boys. In addition, the Does are suing the boys themselves collectively for $3 million in compensatory damages and $3 million in punitive damages under the tort of intentional infliction of emotional distress, assault, battery and false imprisonment.

Image via Shutterstock