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Pedro and Stephanie Chevere allege in a lawsuit that a 15-year-old classmate “violently assaulted and battered” their daughter, then a sophomore, tearing her right earlobe in half and “viciously” punching and kicking her during the Nov. 19, 2019 attack.
Meanwhile, other students “recorded the violent assault on their smartphones with the purpose of humiliating (her) on social media,” the Cheveres contend in their suit filed in Superior Court in Hackensack.
Borough police issued a delinquency complaint charging the girl with aggravated assault after determining the severity of the victim's injury, which her mother said required 25 stitches to close.
The girl also needed plastic surgery, her mother said at the time.
"Her ear was ripped in half and by the grace of God was able to be stitched back together," she said.
The investigation that produced the delinquency complaint included a review of video surveillance and witness accounts, police said.
The case was assigned to the Family Part of Superior Court in Hackensack, where proceedings are held in private for juveniles.
In their lawsuit, Pedro and Stephanie Chevere contend that the borough, the Bergenfield Board of Education and the high school all "owed a duty to properly and/or carefully supervise and/or care for" students.
All also bear responsibility to protect students from harm and warn them about “violent, aggressive and dangerous students, employees and/or conditions," the suit says.
It also says that the district and its insurers have yet to cover medical expenses for the girl, who suffered "severe and permanent injuries, was disabled and significantly disfigured, has suffered and will continue to suffer great pain and torment, both mental and physical.”
A judge in Hackensack scheduled a hearing next week to consider the borough’s request to dismiss the suit.
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