Daniel Boone Area Intermediate Center
PHILADELPHIA - Parents of a 9-year-old boy who committed suicide after bullying on his school bus have had their wrongful death lawsuit against his school district and others decimated.
Philadelphia federal judge Catherine Henry on July 2 tossed most of the claims made in a 2024 lawsuit by David and Michele Young, whose son Roman shot himself in 2022 while attending Daniel Boone Area Intermediate Center in Birdsboro.
They alleged school officials were on notice of the effect bullying was having on Roman but did not tell them. They also sued the Amity Township Police Department, whose detective investigating the death was also the husband of Roman's guidance counselor.
"As the Youngs themselves allege, the District did essentially nothing with its alleged knowledge of Roman's being bullied, instead continuing to put him on the bus home 'day after day,'" Henry wrote in granting motions to dismiss.
"Although Roman was seen by the school nurse and the guidance counselor, he was returned to class and put on the bus home. Things proceeded as normal, i.e., the status quo.
"Because there was simply no intervention and no reporting, under the case law, there is very little room to infer liability where school officials could have done more but did not."
Roman was repeatedly bullied on his bus at the beginning of the 2022 school year and at one point was punched by a classmate. He went to the nurse's office that day unstable, crying and vomiting.
The nurse sent him to guidance counselor Jessica O'Rourke, who returned him to his regular school activities without admitting him for an assessment of mental problems. The Youngs were merely told he had gotten sick at lunch, while the district and bus company Krise Transportation failed to report the bullying to them, the suit says.
The next day he grabbed a gun at his home and shot himself in the head, with his brother, who is also a plaintiff, present. The Youngs sought more information on what had happened at school but say they were stonewalled by O'Rourke.
Her husband Shawn was assigned to the case, and the lawsuit alleges they conspired to conceal evidence of wrongdoing on the district's behalf. Judge Henry wrote the investigation more likely centered on Roman's access to a firearm.
Failed charges against ATPD said it had the policy of refusing to acknowledge conflicts of interest, like the detective being married to Roman's guidance counselor. The district, they alleged, had unconstitutional policies regarding assessment of students at risk for suicide.
But the Youngs failed to break through the immunity afforded government defendants in civil lawsuits, even in pleading that the phone call failed to let them know the danger their son was in.
"Nothing is alleged about whether the caller indicated (through words or otherwise) that there was nothing to worry about, rather than failing to indicate that there were behaviors to worry about," Judge Henry wrote.
The only dismissal motion not granted was from Krise Transportation, with Henry writing more discovery is needed. She allowed the Youngs to amend their complaint but wrote the problems with the case may be "unlikely to be cured."
Thomas Bosworth of Bosworth Law represents the Youngs.
