Lawsuit Filed Against School District In Drowning of Boy on Property Owned By School District

Amy Rothschild

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The family of a nine year old boy who drowned in a drainage ditch in Kansas City, Kansas, have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the boy's school district. The boy was walking with friends through a field near his elementary school when rainwater swept him off his feet and into a drainage ditch. The boy was trapped in the opening of a drainage ditch and was submerged under water for several minutes before nearby neighbors pulled him out and tried to revive. Emergency personnel took him to the hospital where he died.

The family claims that their son died because Kansas City and North Kansas City School District officials neglected the property around the drainage ditch. The ditch was unguarded and overgrown with vegetation, the parents allege. The lawsuit further states that without any sidewalks alolng the street, the boy was forced to walk across a field.

For more information on this subject, please refer to our section on Wrongful Death.
Shortly after the boy's death, school district officials acknowledged that the ditch is on school district property and took measures to make the area safer. The family's attorney has stated that the tall grass and murky water concealed a hazardous unguarded danger and that the death was preventable.

The city has filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit stating that it is exempt from liability and paying damages under a doctrine known as sovereign immunity. Sovereign immunity is a doctrine dating back to English law. The doctrine means that the state is presumed to do no wrong and cannot be held liable either civilly or criminally.