Student Paralyzed By Bully's Punch Nets $4.2M Settlement With NJ School District
RAMSEY, N.J. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- A New Jersey school district has agreed to pay $4.2 million to settle a lawsuit by a middle school student who was paralyzed when a bully punched him in the abdomen.
WCBS 880's Marla Diamond reports
Podcast
The Ramsey school district's settlement with Sawyer Rosenstein and his family over the 2006 assault was made public this month.
The family's lawyer says their lawsuit alleged school officials knew or should have known the boy's attacker had violent tendencies and that they failed to comply with state law.
Three months before being punched, the then 12-year-old Rosenstein complained in an email to his guidance counselor he was being bullied.
Rosenstein was paralyzed by a punch that caused a blood clot in an artery that supplies blood to the spine and will need a wheelchair for the rest of his life.
"This is, one, a great sense of closure for me. I can continue on with my life and look towards the positives with the negatives that were handed to me," Rosenstein told WCBS 880's Marla Diamond. "And two, to show that there finally is some accountability."
In a statement, the Ramsey Board of Education denied any wrongdoing, calling their anti-bully initiatives "leading edge."
Rosenstein is now a freshman at Syracuse University.
(TM and Copyright 2012 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2012 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
