Lawsuit: Greater Latrobe wrestling team members were retaliated against and left unprotected by district

The mother of an eighth-grade wrestler filed a federal lawsuit Monday against Greater Latrobe Area School District, alleging it failed to protect her son after he was questioned about witnessing hazing and misconduct among the team and coaches.

According to the lawsuit, the boy — identified only by initials —and other members of the team were retaliated against by members of the football team after the hazing allegations became public.

In January 2020, the lawsuit said, the boy was questioned by school district personnel and police and was made to believe that several members of the team were providing statements.

“[His] mother was not present during the school’s questioning of her son, and she was not consulted about the witness statement obtained by the school and turned over to the police,” the lawsuit said.

The complaint alleges the boy felt misled by police.

According to investigators, a camera captured an incident in which students were tied to a volleyball net while others shoved a wooden stick into their buttocks.

Two coaches from Greater Latrobe Junior High were accused by police of witnessing the assaults and failing to stop them from occurring. Four students were charged criminally.

David F. Galando, an assistant wrestling coach, entered the Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition program in October and was ordered to serve two years probation.

Head Coach Cary James Lydic is scheduled for trial on charges of endangering the welfare of children, failure to report and reckless endangerment on August 9.

According to the lawsuit, after the wrestling season was canceled in January 2020, the football coaches reached out to the wrestling team and offered them a chance to work out with the football players.

“The student football team members’ response was to send death threats to [the boy] and other teammates,” the lawsuit said. “Some students physically assaulted the displaced wrestlers for victimizing the students who were allegedly hazed. Many students began bullying and taunting displaced wrestlers, including [the plaintiff], by trying to take lunches, and filling shoes with water and throwing the shoes at other students.

“On one occasion, a water-filled shoe hit a student in the face, causing his nose to bleed,” the lawsuit said.

The complaint alleges that a coach entered the room, saw the student’s bloody nose but said and did nothing.

“[Plaintiff] lives in fear that the wrestlers involved in the alleged hazing and/or their family will retaliate against him,” the lawsuit said.

Since then, the lawsuit said, the boy’s mother pulled him out of Greater Latrobe and moved him to a another district, where she is forced to pay tuition. The boy has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, the lawsuit said.

Claims in the lawsuit include a civil rights violation for state-related danger, as well as a violation of the boy’s liberty interest; negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

District solicitor Ned Nakles said Tuesday he could not comment on the suit because of the need to protect student privacy.