Attorney Richard Bernstein Represents Harrassed DPS Student

WJBK

September, 2010

Amy Lang:
A young girl molested, in her class room by a school security guard.  He has been convicted, but the victims’ family says school administrators knew they had a problem on their hands and did nothing to prevent the attack.

Mother of Victim:
When does the nightmare stop?  Or will it ever stop?

Amy Lang:
Her daughter was just 14 years old, a student at what was then Owen Academy, when this man, Kenneth Matchet, at the time, a security officer with the Detroit Public Schools walked into her classroom and grabbed her breasts in front of students and a substitute teacher.

Mother of Victim:
Supposed to be there to protect the kids of the school, and there is a predator to harm them and hurt them.

Richard Bernstein:
This is an unbelievable breakdown in all protocols within the Detroit Public Schools.

Amy Lang:
It happened in February 2008.  He was convicted.  But that’s not the end of the story.  Attorneys for the victims’ family are back in court.  They say school administrators knew he was a problem, that he had taken pictures of girls at the school, and had them over to his house.  Here’s what they say happened the day of the assault when the principal found out.

Stan Feldman:
And the principles reaction at that time, and statement to my client, was, let’s just keep this between us.

Richard Bernstein:
The school districts response was not to remove this individual from the students, was not to remove him from the schools, they just reassigned him to a different school.  They reassigned him to a different school, so that he could prey on more people.

Amy Lang:
The attorney for Detroit Public Schools had no comment, but he argued the district has governmental immunity so the case should be thrown out.  Richard Bernstein, the attorney for the victim, says granting immunity is guaranteeing something like this could happen again.

Richard Bernstein:
Without any semblance of accountability, what is to prevent this from continuing to happen day in and day out.  Because I don’t think it could get worse than the situation already was.

Amy Lang:
The judge has yet to decide on immunity for the school district, but a trial date’s been set for March.  In Detroit, Amy Lang, Fox 2 News.