‘A coverup’: Family attorney says school district got rid of critical evidence of Tik Tok challenge
By Sooji Nam
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BOCA RATON, Florida (WPBF) — A Boca Raton family, who filed a lawsuit against the Palm Beach County School Board alleging staff negligence, has now filed another motion claiming that the district got rid of critical evidence ahead of trial.
Josiah Garmon, a former student at Boca Raton Community Middle School, said his classmates asked him how high he could jump by the school bus loop in March of last year. He said he did not know that he was being asked to do what is known as the ‘Skull Breaker’ Challenge.
Video shows Garmon jumping before his legs were swept from under him. As a result, he broke his arm.
“This young man and family deserves justice. The truth will show how this whole situation came about,” Patrick Lawlor, Garmon’s family attorney, told WPBF 25 News.
Since the lawsuit had been filed, Lawlor requested the school district preserve all surveillance video, including the courtyard and the bus loop.
“We talked to the principal, she said they looked at the video of the bus loop didn’t show the incident,” Lawlor said. “They talked to their legal and said, ‘don’t save it.’ That’s not their choice; they have a duty to save it.”
He said he was getting conflicting answers from a school witness about the preservation of video.
“You’re under oath to tell the truth, so I’m going to ask you this question again. ‘Was the video, working?'” Lawlor said.
The attorney told WPBF 25 News the witness told him the video was working.
“And then he said, ‘By the way, I preserved some of the video,'” Lawlor said.
“What do you mean preserve the video? My understanding is that none of it was preserved,” he recounted.
“I said ‘Who told you to preserve it?’ He said ‘the principal,'” Lawlor added.
The Palm Beach County School Board denied the negligence claim, and in their legal brief, district lawyers wrote that Lawlor’s request for the video was “such a ridiculous and burdensome demand.”
They argued that the school principal “rejected this clearly unreasonable demand and preserved only one video.”
Lawlor said he finally obtained that video but said it was of the courtyard and did not show the incident.
The school principal had testified, “There was nothing to preserve because there was no incident.”
“It’s a coverup, in my opinion,” Lawlor told WPBF 25 News.
He hopes the court will rule that the school district got rid of the evidence and inform the jury. The trial is scheduled for October.
WPBF 25 News reached out to the Palm Beach County School District for comment and received this statement below.
“The School District of Palm Beach County cannot comment on pending or current litigation.”
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