Suit filed in Norton strip search

A former Norton High School student has filed a lawsuit, claiming she was falsely arrested and illegally strip-searched at the school last year.

[NEW GUY]

This is unreal. Norton police and the school systom will pay and pay alot. we have rights , or do we. i know two of the officers and they know better. They should have been put on un paid leave.

[Cloverine Fleetwood]

NEW GUY wrote:

This is unreal. Norton police and the school systom will pay and pay alot. we have rights , or do we. i know two of the officers and they know better. They should have been put on un paid leave.

At this point, this article is the only information I have about this occurrence. I note that it is written strictly from the perspective of the person who was searched. It serves her lawsuit to make what happened sound as heinous as it possibly could. There may very well be other perspectives and different recollections from the other participants. The student's version may be totally accurate, but I think it would be naive to take it at face value.

Having worked in schools and been directly familiar with other incidents that made the paper, there is one thing I noticed. The intitial reports in the media only cover the factsone as filtered through the person accusing the school personnel system.

One time, many years ago, a person filed lawsuit against me for something I did in my role as an educator. There was a tiny one papagraph notice of the filing in the Beacon's local news section. It made it seem as if I was a truly terrible person. Interestingly, the newspaper article was my first knowledge of the filing - notice was not served on me until later in the day. I was embarassed and felt that the lawsuit was not supported by the facts. Almost two years later, it was dismissed with prejudice. I note that its dismissal and my total exoneration did not make the paper. My point is that the initial article in any lawsuit is controlled by the person offended. It is their filing that form that basis for the story so, of course, that article is going to one that makes the person charged seem guilty. What make it worse, due to confidentiality, school officials who are accused cannot even defend themselves until the trial.

[Lowrider54]

I hope she cleans out thiere bank accounts. Who do they think they are ? I'll tell ya, does gustpo ring a bell ? I know all of them and they're power hungry PIGS. I really hope they take it on the chin. No, you can't make a call, what kind of BS is that ? Sounds like a Civil Rights cast to me !!

[Buffalo Bob]

Getting to be quite common that the Beacon prints one side and doesn't bother to get the other. Little too important to let some new reporter or stringer handle..better send in Bob Dyer. Oh, that's right, he's pretty good at that too.

[Norton Mom]

This may be the first time this incident has been mentioned in the Beacon Journal, but the lawsuit was filed in Summit Co. Courts, and it was determined that the suit had enough merit to be bound over Federal Court. If you want more information go look at the court filings. Sounds to me like her case has merit.

[big buckeye daddy]

Before jumping to conclusions, lets get the story from both sides. I do not know the "victim" at all personally, however, I do know Officer D'Allessandro as well as his family personally, and I have a hard time believing he would do anything except by the book in his position. He is a very good family man and community member.

[think about it]

The 'victim' was found innocent of the 'charges' they leveled against her. Guess they thought she was also a good community member. And she LIVES in Norton.

[Truly so]

NEW GUY wrote:

This is unreal. Norton police and the school systom will pay and pay alot. we have rights , or do we. i know two of the officers and they know better. They should have been put on un paid leave.

At the very least unpaid leave. But that might have put a crimp in the fight to keep the NPD last fall.
And Dellassandro is up for promotion. To detective as I understand it. Might want to rethink that one!
Shouldn't they pick on someone their own size? And age?

[Cloverine Fleetwood]

Norton Mom wrote:

This may be the first time this incident has been mentioned in the Beacon Journal, but the lawsuit was filed in Summit Co. Courts, and it was determined that the suit had enough merit to be bound over Federal Court. If you want more information go look at the court filings. Sounds to me like her case has merit.

I went to the Summit County Clerk of Courts website as you suggested. I note the case was shifted to the federal court at the request of the defendants because, procedurally, that is the court that has jurisdiction over the kinds of matters under consideration. That being the case, the change in venue had nothing to do with the merits of the case; it was done to get the matter into the right courtroom. In any event, that is how I understood the legalese on the web.

[oh boy]

Lowrider54 wrote:

I hope she cleans out thiere bank accounts. Who do they think they are ? I'll tell ya, does gustpo ring a bell ? I know all of them and they're power hungry PIGS. I really hope they take it on the chin. No, you can't make a call, what kind of BS is that ? Sounds like a Civil Rights cast to me !!

"Gustpo," eh? Why are all AOL users such morons?

[Wow]

Aw - you beat me to it.

oh boy wrote:

<quoted text>
"Gustpo," eh? Why are all AOL users such morons?

[soulman]

That wasn't even a real strip search. Give it up!!! Everyone is always looking for an easy dollar these days.

[City Worker]

oh boy wrote:

<quoted text>
"Gustpo," eh? Why are all AOL users such morons?

"gustpo" may not work, but gestapo sure seems to fit this situation. Let's see: searched for items even though they already found them on another student, denied a phone call or to have an attorney present, the false arrest itself, the improper search. This lady may graduate from the Univ of Akron with no student loan debt, and a nice downpayment on her first house.

[City Worker]

soulman wrote:

That wasn't even a real strip search. Give it up!!! Everyone is always looking for an easy dollar these days.

That's right, it wasn't. If it was a legal strip search, she'd have slightly less of a case. This was an illegal strip search.

[City Worker]

fair veteran wrote:

Some of you people really are hillbillies. Wait for both sides. My guess is you've been stopped and ticketed by police and instead of manning up to it, you blame them for YOU getting caught. So, we may not be talking about some innocent little girl here. But you didn't think about that, did you? You hate law enforcement and instead of admitting you aren't waiting for both sides of the story, you'll whine and complaint I bothered to tell the truth. Shame on you babies.

You must not have read the article and noted a couple of major FACTS:(1) another student was caught with the items (2)she was totally exonerated and the case against her thrown out.

This is the kind of story that leads people to dislike and distrust law enforcement, not to mention the school system.

[May]

I THought this was a STRIP Search?? NOT

SHE was Patted Down... A MILLION dollars for her Dignity...

A STRIP search would be at least removing clothing to the underware or bare Naked. NOt a pat down

I recommend she not travel on an airline if she wants to sue for something like this.

She needs to sue the girl that Fingered her (LOL) on the bogus theft charges… YEP she stole it and gave it all to me. Since she likes me so much… DOOHHHHHHHHH

[NEOH Beemer Rider]

Hmmm. Well, if they arrested her, she certainly had the right to legal counsel. And she certainly has the right to not be subject to an unwarranted search. Whether or not they had reason to sufficiently 'warrant' a search is another story. I would think they would've had to have witnessed her stealing - either on camera or in person. A third-party story wouldn't cut it.

The LEOs and the school had better hope they followed procedure AND the Constitution to the letter on this one, otherwise they're toast. Lately, though, it seems fewer and fewer really do understand the latter. JMHO

[Figures]

She was charged and found not guilty, the state appealed, still no luck for them, and the charges were eventually thrown out. Doesn't sound like the criminal charges had merit from the get-go.

Schools have a right to discipline and investigate, but only to a certain extent. If it was a safety issue, and the school alleged that she had a gun, that would be one thing. But a strip search for a camera and $200, all based on the allegations of another teenager? C'mon. Sounds like this school needs to quit playing cops and robbers, and get back to educating our kids.

[Truly so]

The girl waited for 90 minutes outside the principal's office. Couldn't the NPD have brought in a female officer? They knew they were looking for a girl. Even though most of the NPD live outside Norton, 90 minutes should have been enough time to get the female offcier here for a correct search. Not in front of the male officers and performed by a school secretary! The indignity of it!
Truth will out!

[Oh Yes]

Sounds like this school made a very costly mistake. I hope they settle this one out of court, if possible.