Thread: NJ: Schoolyard survivor sues over shooting

Schoolyard survivor sues over shooting
by Jonathan Schuppe /The Star-Ledger
Wednesday June 04, 2008, 5:11 AM

After she was stabbed, shot and left for dead in a Newark schoolyard last August, Natasha Aeriel suffered through a series of brutal medical procedures, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday.

Doctors removed tiny bullet fragments from her head, filed down her cheekbone, reconstructed her sinuses and used tissue from her stomach to fill the gunshot wound behind her left ear. She lost half her hearing and remains unable to move the left side of her face.

Although she still hasn't spoken publicly about her ordeal, the 20-year-old woman revealed those details in a multimillion-dollar claim against the Newark school system and the six people who allegedly shot her before turning their guns on her younger brother, Terrance, and two friends as they knelt against the wall of Mount Vernon School.

She was the only one who survived.

Her father, Troy Bradshaw, said she is facing more surgery to correct the damage to her face and hearing.

"She's doing exceptionally well," Bradshaw said in an interview. "Her spirits are up."

Her lawsuit, filed with parents of the three other victims, levels civil claims against the accused killers and charges that the district failed to secure the school's rear courtyard with proper fences, lights, guards or security cameras.

"It, in essence, became a death trap," said Ronald Riccio, the lawyer who filed the lawsuit.

Perry Lattiboudere, the district's lawyer, said Newark schools didn't have an obligation to protect people after dark.

"We sympathize with the victims in this case and the whole tragic situation, but we're comfortable with the precautions we take to protect students during school hours," he said. "We are going to vigorously defend ourselves against any claim that tries to impose (that) duty after school hours."

The execution-style attacks unfolded late at night on Aug. 4, when Natasha Aeriel, Terrance Aeriel, 18, Iofemi Hightower, 20, and Dashon Harvey, 20, visited the courtyard with plans to finish off some fast food. The four friends, all current or prospective students at Delaware State University, were then surrounded by the six assailants, some of whom were members of the MS-13 street gang.

The attack started as a robbery, then turned bloody.

Natasha Aeriel and Hightower were "sexually molested" and "cut and chopped with machetes and knives," according to the lawsuit. Natasha was the first to be shot. Then the attackers took the other three to a sunken area of the courtyard, forced them to face a wall and shot them in the backs of their heads.

With help from Natasha Aeriel, detectives rounded up all six alleged killers: Jose Lachira Carranza, 39, Rodolfo Godinez, 24, Melvin Jovel, 18, Alexander Alfaro, 17, Shahid Baskerville, 16, and Gerardo Gomez, 15. They have been charged and are waiting for prosecutors to present the case to a grand jury.

When they do, Natasha Aeriel will be a key witness.

Because of her injuries, and her role in the upcoming trial, Natasha Aeriel's family and lawyer said they did not want to publicize where she lives or what she's been doing.

"She is making slow but steady progress but has a long road to go," Riccio said.

The brutality of the attacks, along with the fact that Carranza was in the country illegally despite prior criminal offenses, made national headlines and sparked new rules on dealing with the arrest of undocumented immigrants. His ability to slip through the system -- Carranza had been arraigned for an unrelated crime the day before the murders -- contributed to the unsafe atmosphere in the school courtyard, Riccio said.

But the gist of the lawsuit's accusations focuses on the level of security around the school. The suit charges that a lack of safety measures "created a substantial certainty" that the four students would be attacked.

The suit, among other things, said there were too few security cameras in the schoolyard and the ones there were not working. It also claimed the gates were left unlocked and wide open for "easy public access to the schoolyard."

"Had the government done its job of securing the schoolyard where the murders occurred ... we believe our children would be alive today," the parents said in a prepared statement.

Riccio said he is seeking cash amounts "in the seven digits" for Natasha Aeriel and each of the three parents.

http://www.nj.com/newark/index.ssf/2008 ... _over.html

I really hate to say this but, she is suing the wrong party. She should be suing the state government for not keeping him incarcerated when he was first arrested as well as the local police for accidently releasing this scumbag.
The school system is probably the least reponsible and the most cash strapped entity she could sue.
She needs a much better lawyer. Preferably one with a brain.