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The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana has filed a lawsuit requesting damages and alleging that a teenager’s constitutional rights were violated during an incident in which a seventh-grade girl underwent a body search due to an anonymous tip that she was carrying a gun at school.
The case, K.S., by her father and next friend, Nicholas Stout v. Bradley Milliman, in his individual capacity; Rebecca Hudson, in her individual capacity, 1:24-cv-8, has been filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana.
According to the complaint, K.S., 13, was a seventh-grade student at Jay County Jr.-Sr. High School when she was removed from class by Bradley Milliman, the dean of students at the high school, just before Thanksgiving in 2023.
She was taken to the office of the school nurse, Rebecca Hudson, where she was told she was going to be searched without an explanation.
With Milliman observing, K.S. was ordered to lift up her pants legs to show her socks and then to lift up her shirt so they could see her waist. She was then ordered to lift up her shirt, place her hands against her breasts under her bra and pull her bra away from her body.
K.S. believed she had no choice but to comply.
While still in the nurse’s office, Milliman told K.S. to hand him her Chromebook. The school dean searched the case but found nothing but the Chromebook inside.
After the body search, K.S. was taken to another office with the middle school’s principal and school resource officer, where they informed her that she was being searched for a gun.
Milliman told her that the middle school principal was going to search her locker.
Nothing was found in the locker, and the class period ended a few minutes after the search began, so K.S. was sent back to class.
Milliman called K.S.’s mother and left a message stating that K.S. had been searched, that nothing was found and that everything was fine.
Neither Milliman nor another school employee attempted to contact K.S.’s parents prior to or during the search, according to the complaint.
Her mother came to the school to find out what was going on, and she and K.S. met with Milliman.
Milliman stated that the reason for the search was because anonymous tip had been made over the internet about K.S. having a gun.
He further explained that a student had falsely reported that K.S. had a gun.
“Of course, K.S. never had a gun. And, aside from everything else, it would have been extremely unlikely that any student would or could conceal a gun inside of their bra without creating an odd contour visible through the student’s clothes,” the complaint stated. “Mr. Milliman never explained why, instead of requiring a 13-year-old to expose herself, the resource officer had not been asked to use his metal detector wand on the outside of K.S.’s clothing. Nor did he explain under what circumstances he believed a 13-year-old girl would or could hide a gun in her bra. Nor did he explain why a pat-down of K.S., while fully clothed, and presumably conducted by someone the same gender as K.S., would not have been sufficient.”
According to the complaint, K.S. was so upset that she was sobbing uncontrollably. K.S. has not returned to the school and is now being home-schooled. She is in counseling to help her deal with the incident, the complaint stated.
“No parent wants to see their child suffer like this. My daughter has been involved in multiple school sports teams, but now that she no longer feels safe in school, it breaks my heart to think she may never be able to participate in school activities again,” Nicholas Stout, K.S.’s father, said in a news release. “Moving forward, we want to ensure that this never happens to another child again. We want school officials across this great country to know that they are not above our Constitution or the law.”
The complaint alleges less invasive means of conducting a search were available but not utilized, and that it has cause significant emotional and mental harm and anguish and clearly violated the student’s Fourth Amendment rights.
“The actions taken by these school officials were taken with reckless or callous indifference to K.S.’s rights,” Ken Falk, legal director at the ACLU of Indiana, said in a news release. “The Fourth Amendment applies to school officials and requires them to have reasonable suspicion for any search of a student and requires further that the search be appropriate in its scope.”
Counsel for Milliman and Hudson had not been listed on the Public Access to Court Electronic Records site as of Indiana Lawyer’s deadline Wednesday.
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