Judge approves confidential settlement in civil suit alleging assault of high school student

STE. GENEVIEVE, Mo. � A judge approved a confidential settlement in a civil suit accusing Cape Girardeau School District officials of assaulting a high school student in 2014.

In November 2015, the teenage student, Ta�Brea Harris, and her mother Terri Harris sued the school district, then Central High School assistant principal Chris Kase and athletic director Lance Tollison.

Kase, who became high school principal in 2015, resigned that position this summer to take a position as principal of a middle school in Kansas.

Ta�Brea Harris and her parents, Terri and Tony Harris, testified Tuesday at a hearing in Ste. Genevieve Circuit Court, under questioning from their attorney, that the settlement is �fair and reasonable.�

Ta�Brea said she understands the settlement means she cannot file any more claims against the defendants in connection with the incident.

Plaintiff attorney Charles Wooten of Hillsboro, Missouri, told judge Sandra Martinez the settlement money would be paid to Ta�Brea Harris after she turns 18 later this month. For now, she is legally a minor.

Terri Harris testified her daughter suffered injuries requiring medical treatment as a result of the actions of Kase and Tollison.

Cape Girardeau police obtained a copy of discharge instructions from Saint Francis Medical Center that detailed Harris� injuries � a neck sprain and chest-wall contusion. The discharge instructions recommended Harris abstain from athletics for one week and take ibuprofen, the Southeast Missourian reported in 2016.

Under questioning by both Wooten and defense attorney Nicholas Childress of St. Louis, Harris family members said they understand the agreement prohibits them from disclosing terms of the settlement.

School district officials declined to comment on the settlement.

The suit was originally filed in Cape Girardeau County Circuit Court and later transferred on a change of venue to St. Francois County.

Ta�Brea Harris was 14 when the incident occurred Dec. 11, 2014, according to the lawsuit.

She said in the suit she was waiting for a bus at Central High School when she was involved in a verbal altercation with another female student.

Kase, who then was assistant principal, approached Harris, and slammed her into the ground, the petition stated. Sometime after, athletic director Tollison approached Harris from behind, pulled her hands behind her back and slammed her to the ground, the petition stated. Tollison then picked Harris up to her feet and Harris tried to get away. Tollison then slammed Harris to the ground a second time, according to the petition.

In addition to the allegation of assault, the suit charges that defendants were negligent. Kase and Tollison had a duty to not use excessive force, according to the suit.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs argued in court documents in 2016 a surveillance video of the incident was �graphic and disturbing.�

A police report depicts the two school officials trying desperately to subdue a student who was enraged, aggressive and insistent on fighting another student. According to statements made to police by Kase and Tollison, Harris resisted efforts to restrain her.

�I attempted to restrain her and tell her to stop, but she continued to fight me and tumbled into the grass next to the building,� Kase wrote in a voluntary statement.

Tollison intervened, and Kase said he tried to get other students away from the confrontation.

Tollison told police, �I ran to assist him, as several students were in the area as the two female students were attempting to fight.�

Tollison said he tried to keep Harris away from the other student and restrained Harris, taking her to the ground.

�I let her up off the ground, but she ... continued to resist my efforts to calm her down,� Tollison said, adding Harris again was restrained to the ground.

Harris told police Tollison threw her to the ground. She said she attempted to stand. Tollison then forced her up against a wall and put her hand behind her back, she said. Harris said he threw her to the ground a second time and put his knee on her back to hold her down.

Cape Girardeau police officer Joseph Tado said video showed Tollison moving toward Harris as Kase tried to restrain her. Kase was moving forward as Harris moved backward, at which point Harris began to trip and took herself and Kase to the ground, the officer said.

�The video shows all three � Kase, Tollison and Harris � getting up from the ground at which point Kase walks away from Tollison and Harris,� Tado wrote. �Harris again starts to fight Tollison and struggle to free herself physically at which point Tollison places Harris on the ground and restrains her by placing his knee in the center of her back.�

Defense attorneys argued in April 2016 that Kase and Tollison had immunity for their action under a 2001 federal law. Defense attorney Rebecca Cary of St. Louis wrote in court filings Kase and Tollison were shielded from liability because their acts were to �maintain order.�

mbliss@semissourian.com

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