THE 2018 WAHS BASEBALL MYRTLE BEACH STORY – “COUNT III VIOLATION OF 42 U.S.C. § 1983 Plaintiff v. All Defendants Violation of Plaintiff’s Fourteenth Amendment Rights to Equal Protection and Due Process”

Atlantica Resort room image (bottom)

A previous, multi-part series of articles was published on this website with results of a more than 18-month long investigation by Talk Williamsport.com.

This story is graphic and contains details related to multiple indecent sexual assaults.

The author and editor of this story have made the editorial decision to not publish the names of the individuals under the age of 18 at the time of the incident who have been clearly identified as committing these acts in this case; even though they have been formally charged with a crime in South Carolina.

A Baseball Story In The Birthplace Of Little League Baseball

IF NOTHING HAPPENED IN MYRTLE BEACH

WHY WON’T THE WASD TELL US THE STORY?

THE 2018 WAHS BASEBALL MYRTLE BEACH STORY –

COUNT III

VIOLATION OF 42 U.S.C. § 1983

Plaintiff v. All Defendants

Violation of Plaintiff’s Fourteenth Amendment Rights to Equal Protection and Due Process

By Todd Bartley, Talk Williamsport

News@talkwilliamsport.com

The following article is the eighth in a series based upon the recent First Amended Complaint filed in Federal Court by the attorneys for John Doe #1; who was indecently sexually assaulted during the Williamsport Area High School Baseball Team trip in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina in the spring of 2018.

From the Complaint;

From the First Amended Complaint filed on Thursday, May 11, 2023.

154. Plaintiff incorporates by reference the preceding paragraphs of this Complaint as if fully set forth herein.

155. The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution protects Plaintiff from the deprivation of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law and guarantees Plaintiff equal protection of the law. The Fourteenth Amendment requires the Defendants, including WASD, LC, Dr. Brandon Pardoe, Roger Freed, Sean McCann, Ryan Miller, Fred Holland, William Weber, and John Does 1-20 to establish policies and practices to protect Plaintiff from known harms and known patterns of constitutional deprivations.

156. The Fourteenth Amendment also requires the Defendants, including WASD, LC, Dr. Brandon Pardoe, Roger Freed, Sean McCann, Ryan Miller, Fred Holland, William Weber, and John Does 1-20, to not maintain and enforce deficient policies, practices, and customs which deprive Plaintiff of his constitutional rights to equal protection and due process under the law,
including but not limited to failing to train employees and failing to supervise employees.

157. Defendants failed, with deliberate indifference, to provide a safe custodial setting for Plaintiff, by failing to properly train, supervise, and discipline staff at WASD and LC, failing to properly investigate claims of child abuse related to students at WASD, and failing to appoint the proper individuals conduct an adequate, unbiased, and independent investigation of said abuse, as required by law. As a proximate result of Defendants’ policies, practices and customs, the staff at WASD and LC, acting under color of state law, subjected Plaintiff to sexual and emotional abuse, a failure to protect from harm, and other abuses alleged in this Complaint. Defendants WASD, LC, their respective employees, and Dr. Brandon Pardoe, Roger Freed, Sean McCann,
Ryan Miller, William Weber, Fred Holland, and John Does 1-20 violated Plaintiff’s Fourteenth Amendment rights when subjecting him to sexual abuse and harassment, and/or endorsing the abusive environment, and/or taking no action to prevent such abuse despite their knowledge of its occurrence and of the abusive environment festering at WAHS.

158. The Defendants’ failure to properly train and supervise their employees was pervasive and was done with deliberate indifference towards the rights of Plaintiff.

159. If the Defendants had properly trained and supervised their employees, Plaintiff’s constitutional rights after the assault would not have been violated and the continued injury and abusive actions towards Plaintiff would not have occurred.

160. Defendants’ failure to properly train and supervise their employees caused Plaintiff to suffer constitutional deprivations, including a violation of his due process and equal protection rights.

161. Defendants’ failure to train and supervise its employees, among other failures, was a widespread custom, policy, and/or practice of Defendants.

162. Defendants acted or failed to act under the color of state law, when they were required to keep minors, including Plaintiff, safe from harm.

163. Defendants acted or failed to act under the color of state law, when they discriminated against Plaintiff on the basis of his race by treating a similarly situated white victim of abuse more favorably by conducting an investigation into his assault and affording him compensation for his abuse. Plaintiff’s abuse and harassment was, instead, covered up by Defendants and he was not afforded due process nor equal protection under the law.

164. Defendant WASD and its agents, administrators, teachers, and coaches, including but not limited to, Defendants Pardoe, Freed, McCann, Miller, and Holland, knew of the custom of hazing and violence that took place on the WAHS Myrtle Beach trip and purposefully took no action to stop it. The inaction and deliberate indifference of the Defendants regarding the hazing and abuse is an effective acceptance of such behavior. Defendants condoned or ratified said conduct through their actions and inactions.

165. Defendant WASD’s unconstitutional customs, policies, and/or practices caused a pattern of similar constitutional violations to students who were abused on the annual Myrtle Beach trip for years, if not decades. WASD’s failure to train and supervise its employees to prevent, report, investigate, and/or address such abuse constitutes a pattern and practice resulting in a systematic violation of students’ constitutional rights, including the rights of Plaintiff.

166. Defendant LC and its agents and employees, including Defendant Weber, knew of the deficiencies in its customs, policies, and procedures violated Plaintiff’s right to non-discriminatory police protection and the non-discriminatory investigation or prosecution against individuals. These rights were violated by Defendants LC’s and Weber’s custom or policy of conducting or permitting faulty investigations by county detectives, and LC’s failure to train its officers, specifically detectives, regarding reporting and investigating sexual assault cases involving minors.

167. Defendant LC’s unconstitutional customs, policies, and/or practices caused a pattern of similar constitutional violations to children who have suffered abuse and sexual abuse in Lycoming County for years, if not decades. LC’s failure to train and supervise its employees— specifically, its county detectives—to properly report, investigate, and/or address allegations of abuse constitutes a pattern and practice resulting in a systematic violation of children’s constitutional rights, including the rights of Plaintiff. In fact, LC DA Ryan Gardner admitted that LC’s policies and procedures, in effect at the time of Plaintiff’s abuse and harassment, were deficient to adequately ensure that its county detectives were exhibiting proper conduct within the
course and scope of their employment.

168. Defendants’ acts and omissions as set forth in the preceding paragraphs of this Complaint shock the conscience, deprived Plaintiff of his Fourteenth Amendment right to equal protection of the laws and due process, and caused Plaintiff grave physical, emotional, psychological and other harm.

169. The acts and omissions by the Defendants WASD, LC, Dr. Brandon Pardoe, Roger Freed, Sean McCann, Ryan Miller, Fred Holland, William Weber and John Does 1-20 were made in a willful disregard for the safety of Plaintiff and a reckless or callous indifference for his protected rights.

170. The acts and omissions by the Defendants WASD, LC, Dr. Brandon Pardoe, Roger Freed, Sean McCann, Ryan Miller, Fred Holland, William Weber and John Does 1-20 as described in the preceding paragraphs of this Complaint, were the direct and proximate cause of Plaintiff’s damages and injuries and are therefore liable to Plaintiff under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and the Fourteenth Amendment.

WHEREFORE, Plaintiff demands judgment against Defendants WASD, LC, Pardoe, Freed, McCann, Miller, Holland, Weber, and John Does 1-20 in a sum in excess of Seventy-Five Thousand ($75,000.00) Dollars, and in excess of the prevailing arbitration limits, in compensatory damages and punitive damages, exclusive of pre-judgment interest, post-judgment interests and costs.

“State Law Claims, COUNT IV VICARIOUS LIABILITY Plaintiff v. Defendants WASD and LC” in this series, is forthcoming.